Just as the Atlantic hurricane season reaches its
climatological peak, the National Hurricane Center upgraded Hurricane Florence
to a Category 4 hurricane with 130 mph winds and is expected to strengthen to 150 mph just before the
anticipated landfall Thursday night. “The storm is already 500 miles wide — meaning a large
area will be at risk when it nears land.”
Although
current computer models expect Florence to make landfall between northern South
Carolina and the North Carolina Outer Banks, possible shifts in the storm’s track
will likely expand areas of mandatory evacuation orders – which for now are
confined to Dare County and Hatteras Island.
Keep in mind, whether business interruption coverage will apply for
those businesses evacuated due to anticipated damage will depend on the
specific policy language. Many policies preclude coverage for mere anticipatory civil authority orders,
while others limit coverage to orders arising out of damage within a certain
distance of the insured property.
Very
warm sea surface temperatures of up to 85 degrees are aiding Florence as it
nears the U.S. Atlantic shore. “With each
passing flight into the eye of the storm and every new computer model forecast,
it has become increasingly unlikely
that Florence will turn out to sea and spare the Eastern Seaboard from
potentially devastating storm surge, flooding and wind. There’s even some
indication that the hurricane will slow or stall out over the Mid-Atlantic
later this week, which could lead to a disastrous amount of rain.” Some models suggest
Florence, like Texas’ 2017 Hurricane Harvey, could stall and linger after
making landfall – resulting in significant and dangerous flooding.
If
Hurricane Florence makes landfall along the southeast coast as a Category 3 or
higher, it would be an extremely rare event.
In fact, since 1851, only 10 major hurricanes have done so, with the
most recent in 1996 (Hurricane Fran). Hurricane
Hugo made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in 1989, and there have been no
Category 5 hurricanes to make landfall in this region on record.
Notably, a series of dangerous storms
are also threatening parts of the United States in the Pacific Ocean, with most
of the state of Hawaii under either a tropical storm warning or watch on Monday
morning, as Hurricane Olivia approaches the Hawaiian islands with 85 mph winds.
Posted by Jennifer Gibbs
