Florence deals mean blow, delivers a valuable lesson

Some in the bull’s-eye of Hurricane Florence may have taken a modicum of solace earlier this week in learning that the horrendous storm would greatly weaken in wind speed before barreling onto land.

Early in the week, it rumbled toward a direct hit on Wilmington, N.C., as a powerful Category 4 hurricane with sustained gargantuan wind speeds of 150 mph.

But by the time it blustered its way into the Carolinas on Friday morning, its winds had died down markedly to about 90 mph.

But those in the mammoth path of the storm are realizing what Florence lacks in wind speed, she more than makes up for in torrential rains, storm surges and flooding. Making matters even worse is Florence’s tortoise-like stroll throught the Southeast, traveling at about 5 mph and thereby packing its mean wet punch for days – not hours – along its 400-mile wide swath of destruction.

To be sure, one of the many lessons learned from Florence for those inside and outside of her path should be the recognition that hurricanes must never be defined by their wind speed alone.

According to the National Hurricane Center, a division of the National Weather Service, historically 49 percent of all U.S. hurricane deaths come from storm surge and 27 percent from rain. Only 8 percent of deaths can be directly attributable to howling high winds.

AN APPEAL FOR HERCULEAN RESPONSE

As a result, this slow-going monster demands a herculean response from responsible and well-trained relief, rescue and recovery workers from local, state and federal agencies and organizations.

Unfortunately, early indications from the White House this week did little to inspire much confidence in the federal response. At a time Thursday when President Donald J. Trump should have been focusing maximum attention on the storm approaching a wide portion of the Southeast coastline, instead the commander in chief found it necessary to politicize and fantasize over a previous hurricane on Twitter.

In response to a recent official report by the George Washington University School of Public Health that put the death toll from last year’s assault by Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico at 3,000, Trump turned the attention to himself.

“This [increased death toll] was done to me by Democrats to make me look as bad as possible when I was successfully raising Billions of Dollars to help rebuild Puerto Rico,” Trump wrote.

It’s time for the president to put such bluster aside and invest all energies toward ensuring that the Federal Emergency Management Agency and others respond professionally to those in dire need. After all, by most accounts, FEMA’s track record in last year’s string of hurricane disasters – Harvey, Irma, Maria – was at best mixed.

And many Americans still best remember the agency by the irony of President George W. Bush’s compliment to then FEMA leader Michael Brown – “You’re doing one heckuva job, Brownie” – as the agency fumbled and stumbled in its response to the catastrophic Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Early signs at least indicate no repeat of that mismanagement this time, as disaster declarations were promptly made and hundreds of staff from FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security were rapidly deployed down South.

In addition to government-sponsored operations by FEMA and others, private relief missions deserve the public’s support. About 20 workers from the local chapter of the American Red Cross plan to take part in relief efforts on Ground Zero of Florence’s wrath.

Those looking to help the victims of the disaster, estimated to cause up to $60 billion in damage, should consider chipping in to the Red Cross’ hurricane relief fund or other reputable charities.

We warn potential donors, however, not to fall for such heartless con artists trying to profit off of the compassion of others. The Better Business Bureau offered these suggestions Friday: Double check the names of charities as many sound like reputable organizations, do not give away personal information over the phone or on line, research for legitimate BBB-accredited charities at give.org.

Together, the public and private sectors must work expeditiously and in a well-coordinated fashion in coming weeks and months to restore normalcy to the lives of hundreds of thousands ripped asunder by the fury of Florence.