The joy of sunshine

When did the clouds and rain start last week?  When was the last time the sun woke me up in the morning?  I don't remember. But when I got home from church I opened windows on both sides of the apartment for 60+ degree winds to blow through...to let my own and my furnishings clear the cobwebs.  I know it's not time for spring cleaning quite yet.

Also before getting home, I followed the request of one of my readers to go look at some of the sights that I'd captured during the rainy times, and show you what they look like in sunshine. Remember that it takes a while for yesterday's rains to flow out of the ground though, so I stayed on dry land.

Many places feel the results of days of rain after the sun comes out and the flooding is still around.  Here's a facebook shared photo from Sevier County TN from yesterday.

I'm pretty sure that's the Little Pigeon on a rampage.

Historic New Salem Baptist Church in Sevierville, TN.

OK, I don't mean to lead you to believe this is happening in Black Mountain, NC.  It isn't.  And perhaps the flooding in Sevier County has dimished by today.

Here're my Montreat photos from around noon today!

Lake Susan is glimmering in sunshine. You can see the roof of Ten Thousand Villages, but just barely the house further up the slope. Compared to the cloudy day last Sunday HERE.

There goes the water downstream, having taken many of the leaves from the Rhododendrons.
And here's a view as it tumbles down the mountain today...

Here's last week's same view.

Is the storm over yet?

It may have seemed like much ado about nothing...since a whammo didn't happen.  Florence kind of stalled and was large and wet...and just sat on the South Carolina/North Carolina border area...and has left a lot of water.

As I sit here at 9:00 am Sun Sept 16, 2018, we've had strong winds and rain since about 10 pm last night, off and on.  That may well last for another 24 hours.

And then it will move on up into the northeast...thank heaven.

New Bern NC from BBC on Sun. 9.16.18

BBC News says (Sun. 5 am EDT)...(in case you've been without power and not heard this which is being repeatedly said on US news reports).

US east coast communities face "epic amounts of rainfall" from storm Florence, which has been linked to at least 12 deaths.

It has caused catastrophic flooding since arriving as a category one hurricane on Friday.

Some towns have already seen 2ft (60cm) of rain in two days, with totals forecast to top 3.5ft (1m) in places.

It is feared that more communities could become deluged as the storm crawls west at only 2mph (3km/h).

Florence, which started out as a hurricane, has now weakened to a depression, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Sunday, but flash flooding and river floods will continue over a significant portion of the Carolinas. 

"This system is unloading epic amounts of rainfall, in some places measured in feet and not inches," North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said on Saturday.

It's more than likely that I'll lose power at some point, since the water on the ground means tree roots can let them fall on electric lines, as well as wind breaking off branches onto electric lines.  As of this morning there are segments of I-40 and I-95 that are flooded and closed.

So flooding is expected for the next 2 days.

I dare say it will have more impacts here in NC, and I'll be hearing from my friends as to their own storm stories.  Have you got something to share? Comment please, if you will.

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But wait...another storm, Mangkhut, has hit the Phillipeans and is headed to Hong Kong.

Debris from houses destroyed by Typhoon Mangkhut lay scattered on the ground in Tuguegarao city in northeastern Philippines, on Sunday, September 16.

Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images as published on CNN 9.16.18

More people have died from Mangkhut in the Phillipeans than from Florence, as of now.