6:00AM EDT August 8, 2024

The sun is not up, but the rain is pouring down. Outside, in the pre-dawn murk, the trees are moving, but winds are not yet strong. Emergency alerts have been beeping nonstop on the phone & Ipad, urging us to get the hell away from here. But we’re going to ride it out. There’s no thunder/lightning at this point. No power outages yet

The house is halfway up a rise; the water will have to come up many feet to reach us. My guess is the main hazard would be from trees falling.  Last spring we cut back several tall but dying ash trees close enough to land on the house, which should have reduced that threat. But after this soaking, any burst of strong winds will bring big trees down in the area, and power outages could follow. An evacuation order would be a problem: our EV Chevy is charged, but the storm radar shows that if we made a run for it, in almost any direction we’d have to stop & recharge before getting clear of this mess. This is just a piece of the map: beyond it, the rain goes way up into New York, Canada-bound; to the south, Charleston SC is still getting pounded, and in much worse shape.

Durham is three hours in from the coast, and 400 ft above sea level.  We’re not close to a big river.

6:42 AM. the power just went out. Signing off, to conserve batteries.

Update, 7:30 AM: power back on; still raining, some wind; emergency alerts still beeping. We’re not panicked. Watch for updates.