The 2018 Hurricane Season (PBP): Cat-4 Hurricane Michael leaving a trail of destruction in Florida

Yeah, it's going to look apocalyptic. They survive and endure, though. The water in my neighborhood is receding and the bands are slowly moving away. It was a pretty comfortable night with the wind blowing. Still a lot of areas that are going to be under water water for a while.

You get much damage bud or did you make it through unscathed?
 
You get much damage bud or did you make it through unscathed?

We got some minor damage. Soffit is damaged. We had the ceiling in the back room bow a little bit due to moisture and heat, not water damage. We can't even close the doors in our house because they've expanded. lol

No telling how long we're going to be without power (without since Thursday), but we've got a 5000w generator for the essentials, so we're good for now. Gas stations are slowly starting to open up and there's barely anywhere with power. Could be a while.
 
We got some minor damage. Soffit is damaged. We had the ceiling in the back room bow a little bit due to moisture and heat, not water damage. We can't even close the doors in our house because they've expanded. lol

No telling how long we're going to be without power (without since Thursday), but we've got a 5000w generator for the essentials, so we're good for now. Gas stations are slowly starting to open up and there's barely anywhere with power. Could be a while.

Well it could be a lot worse, glad to hear things are OKish. Hopefully power's not out for too long.

Sometimes I flip the wrong light switch and turn off the outlet and don't realize until I already sat down on the couch to watch TV and then I have to walk all the way across the living room to turn it back on, so I know a little bit about what you're going through.
 
Was in Hawaii during Hurricane Olivia. It was rough
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We got some minor damage. Soffit is damaged. We had the ceiling in the back room bow a little bit due to moisture and heat, not water damage. We can't even close the doors in our house because they've expanded. lol

No telling how long we're going to be without power (without since Thursday), but we've got a 5000w generator for the essentials, so we're good for now. Gas stations are slowly starting to open up and there's barely anywhere with power. Could be a while.

Do you run the generator intermittently just to keep the fridge's content from melting?

A drunkard crashed into a power pole near our house once and we came home that evening to a smelly swimming pool in the kitchen.
 
Do you run the generator intermittently just to keep the fridge's content from melting?

A drunkard crashed into a power pole near our house once and we came home that evening to a smelly swimming pool in the kitchen.

We have enough gas to keep it running.
 
So I am suppose to drive from Maryland to Miami on Sunday . Will 95 throughout the Carolina's be totslly clear and totally by then?
 
Florence Flooding Hits North Carolina Hog Farms Hard
More than 5,000 animals have died and dozens of waste lagoons have overflowed
By Kris Maher and Ben Kesling | Sept. 19, 2018

B3-BV215_FLORHO_IM_20180919182844.jpg

Floodwaters have caused the worst damage to North Carolina’s hog farms in nearly two decades, with more than 5,000 animals dying and several dozen waste lagoons releasing pollutants into waterways.

Hog industry officials said Wednesday they didn’t expect much more damage to farms, despite some rivers continuing to rise in the state. But environmental groups are calling for the industry to relocate lagoons in floodplains to lessen the risks during major storms going forward.

Flooding was expected in North Carolina through Saturday, and many roads remain under water, the National Weather Service said.

“This is the most significant storm that we have faced probably ever,” said Andy Curliss, chief executive of the North Carolina Pork Council.

B3-BV217_FLORHO_M_20180919182844.jpg

Mr. Curliss said farmers moved 20,000 hogs to higher ground, which prevented a higher death toll. “From our point of view, there’s a lot of heroics,” he said, adding that media reports of damage to several of the state’s 3,300 active hog-waste lagoons was exaggerated.

Hurricane Florence killed 5,500 of the state’s 8.9 million pigs and hogs, the state said. That is more than the 2,800 hogs that died during Hurricane Matthew in 2016, but far less than the 21,000 hogs that died during Hurricane Floyd in 1999, according to pork council numbers.

An estimated 3.4 million chickens and turkeys were killed by Florence, the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services reported Wednesday.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality said it had received reports of breaches, or structural failures, at at least two hog-waste lagoons. One breach in Duplin County was considered a total loss and more than 2.2 million gallons had spilled out, said Megan Thorpe, a department spokeswoman.

The agency said heavy rains had caused manure to spill over at 21 additional lagoons. It didn’t have an estimate for the total amount spilled at farms.

Spilled waste from lagoons risks contaminating groundwater, including potentially from pathogens like salmonella, insecticides and pharmaceuticals.

“Clearly it’s a lot of waste getting into the water,” said Bob Edwards, a professor of sociology at East Carolina University, who has studied the waste lagoons.

Mr. Edwards said the storm will renew calls to relocate about 60 existing hog farms and associated waste lagoons from floodplains. Since Hurricane Floyd, a state program has bought farms and relocated more than 100 lagoons from floodplains, according to the state environmental agency.

Mr. Curliss said the industry is supportive of the program, but he defended the lagoon system, saying it had the approval of federal and state environmental officials.

“We have spent a lot of money, time and effort into looking into alternatives, and right now there isn’t one,” he said. “Lagoon technology is very widely accepted.”

B3-BV218_FLORHO_M_20180919182844.jpg

The open-air holding ponds normally develop a pink tint from bacteria that breaks down pig waste. The bottoms of the ponds are layered with solid pig waste that naturally sinks to form a sludge.

Before Florence hit the state late last week, many hog farmers had lowered lagoon levels by spraying manure onto nearby crops. The practice has drawn criticism because the sprayed material can also be carried away by heavy rains. By law, farmers must stop spraying 24 hours before a storm is expected to reach their location.

In Goldsboro, N.C., Lorenda Overman said the preparations had paid off at her two farms, which have a combined 11,500 pigs and hogs and two lagoons.

After the storm dumped 30 inches of rain, roads remained closed from flooding and a crop of soybeans was under 4 feet of water, she said. But one waste lagoon behind her house still had 12 inches of free space, while her second lagoon had 10 inches remaining.

“The lagoons are high,” she said, “but they’re holding.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/florence-flooding-hits-north-carolina-hog-farms-hard-1537398585
 
Florence Flooding Hits North Carolina Hog Farms Hard
More than 5,000 animals have died and dozens of waste lagoons have overflowed
By Kris Maher and Ben Kesling | Sept. 19, 2018

B3-BV215_FLORHO_IM_20180919182844.jpg

Floodwaters have caused the worst damage to North Carolina’s hog farms in nearly two decades, with more than 5,000 animals dying and several dozen waste lagoons releasing pollutants into waterways.

Hog industry officials said Wednesday they didn’t expect much more damage to farms, despite some rivers continuing to rise in the state. But environmental groups are calling for the industry to relocate lagoons in floodplains to lessen the risks during major storms going forward.

Flooding was expected in North Carolina through Saturday, and many roads remain under water, the National Weather Service said.

“This is the most significant storm that we have faced probably ever,” said Andy Curliss, chief executive of the North Carolina Pork Council.

B3-BV217_FLORHO_M_20180919182844.jpg

Mr. Curliss said farmers moved 20,000 hogs to higher ground, which prevented a higher death toll. “From our point of view, there’s a lot of heroics,” he said, adding that media reports of damage to several of the state’s 3,300 active hog-waste lagoons was exaggerated.

Hurricane Florence killed 5,500 of the state’s 8.9 million pigs and hogs, the state said. That is more than the 2,800 hogs that died during Hurricane Matthew in 2016, but far less than the 21,000 hogs that died during Hurricane Floyd in 1999, according to pork council numbers.

An estimated 3.4 million chickens and turkeys were killed by Florence, the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services reported Wednesday.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality said it had received reports of breaches, or structural failures, at at least two hog-waste lagoons. One breach in Duplin County was considered a total loss and more than 2.2 million gallons had spilled out, said Megan Thorpe, a department spokeswoman.

The agency said heavy rains had caused manure to spill over at 21 additional lagoons. It didn’t have an estimate for the total amount spilled at farms.

Spilled waste from lagoons risks contaminating groundwater, including potentially from pathogens like salmonella, insecticides and pharmaceuticals.

“Clearly it’s a lot of waste getting into the water,” said Bob Edwards, a professor of sociology at East Carolina University, who has studied the waste lagoons.

Mr. Edwards said the storm will renew calls to relocate about 60 existing hog farms and associated waste lagoons from floodplains. Since Hurricane Floyd, a state program has bought farms and relocated more than 100 lagoons from floodplains, according to the state environmental agency.

Mr. Curliss said the industry is supportive of the program, but he defended the lagoon system, saying it had the approval of federal and state environmental officials.

“We have spent a lot of money, time and effort into looking into alternatives, and right now there isn’t one,” he said. “Lagoon technology is very widely accepted.”

B3-BV218_FLORHO_M_20180919182844.jpg

The open-air holding ponds normally develop a pink tint from bacteria that breaks down pig waste. The bottoms of the ponds are layered with solid pig waste that naturally sinks to form a sludge.

Before Florence hit the state late last week, many hog farmers had lowered lagoon levels by spraying manure onto nearby crops. The practice has drawn criticism because the sprayed material can also be carried away by heavy rains. By law, farmers must stop spraying 24 hours before a storm is expected to reach their location.

In Goldsboro, N.C., Lorenda Overman said the preparations had paid off at her two farms, which have a combined 11,500 pigs and hogs and two lagoons.

After the storm dumped 30 inches of rain, roads remained closed from flooding and a crop of soybeans was under 4 feet of water, she said. But one waste lagoon behind her house still had 12 inches of free space, while her second lagoon had 10 inches remaining.

“The lagoons are high,” she said, “but they’re holding.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/florence-flooding-hits-north-carolina-hog-farms-hard-1537398585
Didn’t read the entire thing, but I seen it mentioned that they moved thousands of animals.

A lot of activists online are calling bullshit on that. And posting videos from these buildings showing thousands of dead animals floating around the buildings, or showing how sealed up the buildings are but you can smell the dead animals that are in them. I guess one of the reasons for sealing them is to keep the dead animals hidden. But activists have pried some doors open of places that claimed to have moved their animals, but as it turns out, did not. There’s also a lot of dumpsters filled with dead pigs and piglets. Not sure why? But it’s pretty fukkin gross.

Apparently the only animals that were moved were ones that were headed straight for slaughter anyways.

I mean either way these animals had shit lives that were gonna have a shit ending. But idk man.
 
Florence Unleashing a Flood of Pig Poop on North Carolina
By Yasemin Saplakoglu, Staff Writer | September 19, 2018

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Heavy flooding from Hurricane Florence is causing a pig poop problem in North Carolina.

Pig waste often gets flushed into nearby lagoons in the state, and because of the heavy rain and flooding from the tropical storm, 21 such pig-manure lagoons "overtopped" and released that pig waste into the environment, according to numbers released by North Carolina's Department of Environmental Quality today (Sept. 19).

At least 36 other similar lagoons are likely to also overflow — and five are structurally damaged, according to the department.

North Carolina is the second largest hog-farming state in the U.S., according to Quartz. It has around 2,100 industrial-size hog farms with waste lagoons that hold pig manure and poop-eating bacteria. As for the source of the waste, the state houses over 9 million pigs, many of which live in the storm-affected Sampson and Duplin counties, according to the BBC.

If waste gets out of these pig-waste lagoons, it could wreak havoc on the environment, according to the New York Times. For example, in 1999, rain and flooding from Hurricane Floyd caused waste to enter rivers— and what followed were algal blooms and mass fish die-outs.

There is also some concern that hog lagoons and their farms could harm human health, according to the Times. For example, excess nitrate in groundwater (that can also come from pig manure) could potentially cause what's called blue baby syndrome — a condition caused by contaminated drinking water in which nitrogen can block the ability of red blood cells to carry enough oxygen, causing a baby's skin to turn blue, according to the Times.

Before the storm, some farmers drained portions of their waste lagoons by pumping out liquid and spraying it as fertilizer onto their fields, according to a previous Live Science report. But according to the Times, if the fields that were sprayed were later flooded, the pig waste sprayed as fertilizer could also leak into rivers, streams and groundwater.

The number released by the state's department of Environmental Quality is based on reports from farmers, according to the Times. And the number of affected lagoons may well be higher, they wrote.

https://www.livescience.com/63625-pig-manure-overflow-hurricane-florence.html
 
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