North Carolina

Why Would Anyone Want To Raise A Family In The Midst Of The Extreme Violence That Is Happening In Our Major Cities?

Things were bad in the 1970s and 1980s, but what we are witnessing now is truly frightening.  According to the New York Times, homicide rates in large U.S. cities were up by an average of 30 percent in 2020, and they are up another 24 percent so far in 2021.  We have never seen this sort of a surge in such a short period of time in our entire history, and this is one of the reasons why so many Americans have been moving out of our core urban areas in recent months.  At this point, you would have to be insane to actually want to raise a family in many of our largest cities, because nobody is truly safe in this environment.  For example, a one-month-old girl was just shot in the head during “another mass shooting” in the Windy City…

A 1-month-old baby girl was shot in the head during another mass shooting in Chicago. At least seven people were wounded in the shooting, which happened Thursday night in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood.

Three gunmen jumped out of a black Jeep Cherokee around 8:15 p.m. Thursday. The armed assailants “began shooting in several directions” in the 6500 block of South Halsted Street, according to Chicago police. The gunmen got back in the SUV and fled the crime scene.

As I have discussed previously, mass shootings have become so commonplace now that each one barely makes a blip in the news before the next one happens.

And way too often, kids end up getting killed during these incidents.

Today, I was stunned to learn that a total of 172 children have been shot in the city of Chicago alone so far this year…

According to Chicago police, 172 children have been shot and 25 kids have been murdered so far this year. As some pray for the violence to end, they are also calling for an end to the code of silence they say often perpetuates crime.

172 children in just one city!

The rest of the world is horrified at what we have become.

If you are trying to raise a family in the city of Chicago, I urge you to get out while you still can.

Of course other major cities are not that much better.  In the 1970s and 1980s, there were parts of New York City where it was simply not safe for a woman to go for a walk alone at night.  Conditions were better for the next few decades, and that lulled a lot of people into a false sense of security.  Unfortunately, predators have now returned in very large numbers, and women are being attacked quite frequently.  Right now, the NYPD is asking for help in identifying a man that just viciously attacked one 35-year-old woman from behind…

According to police, the victim, described as a 35-year-old woman, was taking an evening walk on a hot summer evening when a man began following her.

She noticed the stranger’s presence behind her and turned from Morgan Avenue to Stagg Street, but the man continued to trail her, as seen in surveillance video released by the NYPD on Thursday.

Footage shows the unidentified attacker break into a run and jump on the victim from behind, causing her to lose her footing and fall forward.

The good news is that this particular woman was not seriously hurt, but countless others are being raped.

People need to understand that times have changed.  At one time, women could wander the streets of many of our large cities fairly safely at night, but these days predators are seemingly everywhere.

In addition to ordinary crime, we are also seeing a very alarming rise in political violence.  When there is some sort of controversial incident in the news, the location where it happened can become a magnet for protesters from both sides, and way too often confrontations between the two sides can result in violence.

For example, recently there was an incident at a spa in southern California that involved indecent exposure, and because the person in question is transgender it made headlines all over the nation.  On Saturday, protesters from both sides of the political spectrum showed up outside the spa, and before too long violence erupted…

Another video shows a mob of people clad in dark clothes and masks, some wearing vests bearing the word “PRESS,” mocking and chasing a man down the street. He can be seen wearing a T-shirt that reads “Obey Jesus.” He is punched from behind at least once, and subsequent photos show him with blood running down his face and chest.

Eventually the police showed up to restore order, but that didn’t happen until after a dumpster had been set on fire…

The camera pans around and shows the dark-clad group engaging in physical contact with at least two other men on the sidewalk.

A dumpster had been dragged into the middle of the street, with its contents burning. When officers arrived, wearing helmets and carrying batons, the smoke could be seen billowing behind them as they tried to restore order.

The mainstream media kept insisting that the election of Joe Biden would bring the country together, but that sure hasn’t happened.

Instead, we are now more divided than ever.

There is so much anger and frustration in our society right now, and it seems to get worse with each passing year.

With so much chaos and violence in our major cities, many have decided that now is the time to search for greener pastures, and this is driving home prices in certain areas to absolutely ridiculous heights…

High prices may pose little problem for people selling million-dollar homes in California and moving north, but it’s a major issue for homebuyers stuck in low-wage cities like Spokane and Coeur d’Alene, Watkins said.

Of the roughly 200 homes for sale in Spokane County in any given week, only about five are priced under $300,000, Watkins said. In 2015, the average home in Spokane cost $179,000.

Today, vast numbers of “refugees” from the west coast are moving into rural and suburban areas of eastern Washington, eastern Oregon, Idaho and Montana.

In the eastern half of the country, rural and suburban areas of North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee are very popular at the moment.

But as our cultural decay spreads, pretty soon there won’t be any “greener pastures” left anymore.

The entire country is coming apart at the seams all around us, and it is extremely sad to watch it happen.

***Michael’s new book entitled “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

About the Author: My name is Michael Snyder and my brand new book entitled “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America” is now available on Amazon.com.  In addition to my new book, I have written four others that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. (#CommissionsEarned)  By purchasing the books you help to support the work that my wife and I are doing, and by giving it to others you help to multiply the impact that we are having on people all over the globe.  I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe.  I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article.  The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions.  I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook, Twitter and Parler, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.  During these very challenging times, people will need hope more than ever before, and it is our goal to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people as we possibly can.

Raw Video Shows Dozens Of People Looting A Dollar Store As Flooding Cuts Wilmington Off From The Rest Of North Carolina

A major emergency brings out the best in some people, but in others it brings out the absolute worst.  Shocking images of “dozens of people” ransacking a Family Dollar store in Wilmington, North Carolina have stunned the nation.  This happened in broad daylight, and many of the looters didn’t even seem to care that a television news crew was filming them.  Sadly, this always seems to happen whenever a major disaster takes place.  Our established social order is so vulnerable, and so many people out there will gladly take advantage of others if they believe that there is an opportunity to get away with it.  If this is how people will behave during a storm, how will they act once things start getting really bad in this country?

At this hour, Florence continues to dump massive amounts of rain on the Mid-Atlantic region, and now the death toll is up to 18.  It is being reported that more than 640,000 people are without power, and the National Hurricane Center says that more “catastrophic flooding” is coming as Florence remains stationary over the Carolinas.

Major roads all over North Carolina and South Carolina have been flooded, and some parts of Interstate 95 have had to be shut down.

The flooding is already so bad that the city of Wilmington has been completely cut off from the rest of North Carolina, and that is where the Family Dollar store was looted.  One reporter was able to capture raw footage of the looting in progress, and you can see that video on YouTube right here.

This is one of the most disturbing things that I have seen in a long time.

How can people behave like that?

According to one news report, many of the looters were carrying things back to a public housing project right across the street…

Footage from local news station WECT shows dozens of people carrying any items they could get their hands on out of the store and back to a public housing community called Houston Moore.

While there were no members of law enforcement on the scene due to management’s request, police enacted a curfew for the area from 5pm Saturday to 6am Sunday.

They also said many of the alleged looters could be identified in WECT’s video. They encouraged locals to report anyone they recognized in the footage.

If it was just one or two people doing the looting, that would be one thing.

But for “dozens of people” to be looting a store in broad daylight is a very frightening indication as to where we are at as a society.

The storm just arrived a couple days ago, so none of these people were hurting for food or water.  They were just immensely greedy, and they decided to loot the store because they thought they could get away with it.

According to one reporter, “you could just see people everywhere”…

WECT reporter Chelsea Donovan, who went to the scene with another journalist to film the looting, said: ‘When we came over the hill on Greenfield Street, you could just see people everywhere.’

In her news coverage Donovan gestures into the store’s front entrance as she says: ‘You can see here inside just a complete mess, people taking duffel bags and trash bags, now noticing we’re here [and] running away from the camera.’

And of course this was not the only instance of criminal activity in the region.

Over in Brunswick County, at least 4 crooks were arrested…

Dashaun Smith, 25, and Brandon Bellamy, 30, are both charged with possession of burglary tools and break and or enter at Tommy’s Mini Mart in Leland. They are each being held under a $20,000 bond.

Devin Harris, 21, and Justice Harris, 18, are both charged with break or enter a motor vehicle. They are being held under a $5,000 bond each.

We have raised an entire generation that has no moral foundation, and when things take a turn for the worse in this country we are going to see chaos like this all over America.

It doesn’t matter how many laws you have if people don’t follow them.  To a very large degree, any free society is heavily dependent on the fact that most people will regulate themselves, and that is one of the reasons why the social decay that we see all around us is so deeply alarming.

Ultimately, we will probably see even more looting before this storm is over, because it is being reported that “the worst flooding is yet to come”…

Florence’s merciless deluge has already killed 18, trapped hundreds and made parts of North and South Carolina impassable — and authorities say the worst flooding is yet to come.

The tropical depression will keep dumping rain over parts of North Carolina for the next few days, with numerous rivers expected to crest at major flood stage.

Flooding already is so bad in North Carolina that the state transportation department is telling people not to travel in the state. Numerous highways, including sections of I-95 and I-40, are closed, and road flooding has virtually cut off the coastal city of Wilmington.

Previously, I have discussed the fact that it is being projected that this storm could potentially dump 10 trillion gallons of water on North Carolina.  The flooding is already “catastrophic”, and you can view some really good before and after photos right here.

The National Hurricane Center says that up to 40 inches of rain will likely fall on southeastern North Carolina and the northeastern tip of South Carolina.  Even though Florence turned out to be not quite as powerful as the experts were anticipating, this is still an extremely, extremely damaging storm.

At times like this, it is so important for communities to come together and support one another.

Unfortunately, some have decided that this is the perfect time for a crime spree, and as an American I am deeply ashamed by what I am seeing.

About the author: Michael Snyder is a nationally syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is publisher of The Most Important News and the author of four books including The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters.

A Record 7 Named Storms Are Swirling Across The Globe – Has ‘The Day After Tomorrow’ Arrived?

Is something extremely unusual happening to our planet?  At this moment, Hurricane Florence is just one of seven named storms that are currently circling the globe.  That matches the all-time record, and it looks like that record will be broken very shortly as a couple more storms continue to develop.  Back in 2004, a Hollywood blockbuster entitled “The Day After Tomorrow” depicted a world in which weather patterns had gone mad.  One of the most impressive scenes showed nearly the entire planet covered by hurricane-type storms all at once.  Of course things are not nearly as bad as in that film, but during this hurricane season we have definitely seen a very unusual number of hurricanes and typhoons develop.  As our planet continues to change, could this become “the new normal”?

As I mentioned above there are currently seven named storms that are active, but an eighth is about to join them, and that would break the all-time record…

The Hurricane season is causing devastation from the Pacific to the Atlantic as seven active storms are currently swirling across the globe – with high chances an eighth powerful storm will soon develop to break an all-time record.

And actually there is an additional storm that is also developing in the Pacific which could bring the grand total to nine.

Overall, there have been 9 named storms in the Atlantic and 15 names storms in the Pacific since the official start of the hurricane season.

That is not normal.

In fact, one veteran meteorologist has said that he has “NEVER seen so much activity in the tropics”…

Far from being the biggest threat facing the US coastline this hurricane season, Florence will be followed by several other storms that rapidly strengthening in the Atlantic. As one veteran meteorologist remarked, “in my 35 years forecasting the weather on TV, I have NEVER seen so much activity in the tropics all at the same time.”

Meanwhile, the biggest storm on the planet is actually in the Pacific Ocean.

Super Typhoon Mangku is a Category 5 hurricane, and it absolutely dwarfs Hurricane Florence…

The devastating force of Hurricane Florence is nothing when compared to the category 5 hurricane sweeping over the Pacific Ocean, Super Typhoon Mangkhu.

With winds close to 180mph, the fierce hurricane is feared to land over a mountainous terrain in the northern Philippines on Friday night, before moving over the South China Sea and potentially impacting Hong Kong and Vietnam.

But let’s not minimize the seriousness of Hurricane Florence.  It is currently approximately the size of the state of Michigan, and even though it has been downgraded forecasters are still predicting that it will bring up to 40 inches of rain in some areas.

One meteorologist ran the numbers, and he determined that if the current forecasts are accurate the state of North Carolina could end up getting ten trillion gallons of rain…

Weather.us meteorologist Ryan Maue crunched some numbers and tweeted that North Carolina’s 7-day rainfall forecast by the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center would be like getting “a total of over 10 trillion gallons” of rain from Florence. The math was based on the projected state average of 10.1 inches of rainfall for that time span.

Yes, you read that correctly.

Ten trillion gallons of rain.

Needless to say, all of that water is going to cause an immense amount of damage.

Over in Virginia, a top official is warning that “there could be a number of dams that will fail”…

In neighboring Virginia, officials with the state’s Department of Conservation and Recreation have identified some 100 dams they are concerned could be at risk, either because of “spotty inspection records” or because they are still being built.

“If we get 20 inches of rain in a relatively short period of time,” Russ Baxter, the department’s deputy director told the WSJ, “there could be a number of dams that will fail.”

As I write this article, some areas along the coast are already getting hammered.  Atlantic Beach has received more than 12 inches of rain, and other towns are already inundated with water.

It is going to be a long couple of days for those living along the Mid-Atlantic coast, and there were reports of panic among those making last-minute preparations…

A rowdy crowd was shown in a Facebook video shared by an employee from the supermarket off Glenn School Road in Durham Tuesday pushing one another and shouting as they hurried around the store to gather their supplies.

Police officers were even spotted making their rounds around the Walmart to ensure the safety of shoppers.

One officer is seen restraining a young boy as another shopper drops several bottles of water.

This is yet another example that shows that you never wait until the last minute to get what you need.

In the end, the damage to property will be in the tens of billions of dollars, but only a handful of people will probably lose their lives.

Now that the storm has been downgraded, some are even booking rooms along the coast so that they can say that they rode the storm out.

For instance, 53-year-old Barry Freed says that he is sticking around so that he can cross this off his “bucket list”…

For Barry Freed, 53, riding out a hurricane was a chance to cross something off his “bucket list.”

Armed with a few sodas, some M&Ms, Doritos and a copy of Moby Dick, the Greensboro resident booked an AirBnB at a condo here.

As skies darkened Thursday and winds whipped up at Waterway Lodge, just off the marina near Wrightsville Beach, Freed admitted he wasn’t really prepared.

“I kind of thought of this impulsively,” he said. “It’s kind of a stupid idea.”

Yes, it probably is a stupid idea, but I admire his courage.

This storm will come and go, and the recovery will take an extended period of time.

But the much bigger story is what is happening to our planet on a larger scale.  These storms are increasing in number and intensity, and that should definitely alarm all of us.

About the author: Michael Snyder is a nationally syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is publisher of The Most Important News and the author of four books including The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters.

“I’ve Never Seen Anything Like This”: Meteorologists Expect Florence To Stall And Hammer The East Coast “For Days”

The bizarre story of Hurricane Florence just keeps becoming even more strange.  The good news is that meteorologists are telling us that the storm is expected to lose intensity as it approaches the east coast, but the really, really bad news is that it is now being projected that Florence will slow down and finally stall just off the coastline.  In a worst-case scenario, the Carolinas and Georgia could be pounded with wind and rain “for days”, and some areas of North Carolina could end up being buried under nine feet of water.  And even though the peak wind speed of Florence has diminished some, the storm just continues to expand in size.  That means that it will ultimately hit a larger portion of the east coast than originally anticipated, and the overall economic cost will also ultimately be worse than the experts were forecasting.

The word “unprecedented” is being used a lot in conjunction with this storm.  It is behaving in ways that it shouldn’t be, and this “strange stall” along the east coast is absolutely baffling the experts.

While discussing this “stall”, Weather Channel meteorologist Greg Postel stated that he had “never seen anything like this”…

The weird saga of Hurricane Florence, which has already carved an unprecedented path across the Atlantic, is forecast to persist with a strange stall and trek along the Southeast coast.

Instead of roaring ashore and quickly heading inland and weakening, as most storms do, Hurricane Florence should instead “stall near the coast and then parallel southwestward toward Georgia,” Weather Channel meteorologist Greg Postel said. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

And don’t let the fact that Hurricane Florence has been downgraded from a Category 4 storm fool you.  The wind speed may be down a bit, but the storm just keeps getting larger, and on Wednesday it was producing waves that were up to 83 feet tall.

If this storm really does stall off of the Carolina coastline, the devastation will be off the charts.  The following comes from CNN…

Florence’s predicted slow southward turn on Friday would mean some coastal areas could get damaging hurricane-force winds for more than 24 hours. “If this blows at 120 mph for four hours, … you lose a shingle every two minutes, and all of the sudden, you’ve lost your whole roof after four hours,” CNN meteorologist Chad Myers said.

In addition to extreme wind damage, we could also see unprecedented rainfall totals and flooding…

While it sits and spins, the heavy rain Florence unleashes will lead to “catastrophic” and “life-threatening” flooding in the Carolinas. Widespread reports of 20 to 30 inches of rain are likely, and some spots could see 40 inches.

As if that weren’t enough “isolated tornadoes will become a threat Thursday along the North Carolina coast,” the National Weather Service in Wilmington said.

Could you imagine getting 40 inches of rain in a 24 hour period?

And what will things look like if Hurricane Florence decides to stall for an extended period of time and stay roughly in one place for several days?

We don’t know exactly what the storm will do following the “stall”, but what we do know is that the damage from this storm will be immense.

In fact, one FEMA official is warning that power could be knocked out for many people in the danger area for “weeks”…

“This one really scares me,” National Hurricane Center Director Ken Graham told CBS.

“This storm is going to knock out power days into weeks. It’s going to destroy infrastructure. It’s going to destroy homes,” said Jeff Byard, an official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

If you live in the path of this storm, hopefully you have evacuated already.

If you haven’t evacuated, hopefully you have stocked up on supplies, because most of the stores have already been completely cleaned out.  At this point, even gasoline is in very short supply…

Michelle Stober loaded up valuables on Tuesday at her home on Wrightsville Beach to drive back to her primary residence in Cary, North Carolina. Finding fuel for the journey was tough.

“This morning I drove around for an hour looking for gas in Cary. Everyone was sold out,” she said.

And remember, this is just a temporary emergency.  Eventually this storm will pass and the region will begin to recover.

In the event of an even worse emergency that is more long-term in nature, what will you do when all of the supplies are gone and the stores aren’t going to get anything else for the foreseeable future?

On another note, many have found it very interesting that federal officials held a major exercise in which they simulated a Category 4 hurricane slamming into the Mid-Atlantic region back in late April and early May.  Representatives from 91 different federal departments and agencies took part in this exercise, and the results of the exercise were quite alarming…

Just months ago, disaster planners simulated a Category 4 hurricane strike alarmingly similar to the real-world scenario now unfolding on a dangerously vulnerable stretch of the East Coast.

A fictional ‘Hurricane Cora’ barreled into southeast Virginia and up the Chesapeake Bay to strike Washington, D.C., in the narrative created by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Argonne National Laboratory.

The result was catastrophic damage, which has some experts concerned that Hurricane Florence could produce a disaster comparable to 2005’s Hurricane Katrina and in a part of the country that is famously difficult to evacuate.

It is important to remember that Hurricane Katrina was only a Category 3 hurricane when it finally made landfall.  But it was such a massive storm that it absolutely overwhelmed New Orleans.

We could be facing a similar scenario this time around.  Hurricane Florence may only be a Category 2 or a Category 3 hurricane when it finally makes landfall, but it looks like it is going to do an unprecedented amount of damage.

So please be in prayer for those living along the Mid-Atlantic coast, because this may end up being the worst storm that they have ever experienced.

This article originally appeared on The Economic Collapse Blog.  About the author: Michael Snyder is a nationally syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is publisher of The Most Important News and the author of four books including The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters.

People Are “Fighting For Food” As Authorities Warn Florence “Could Produce A Disaster Comparable” To Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Florence is about to make a “direct hit” on the east coast, and public officials are making one ominous declaration about this storm after another.  Florence is being called “extremely dangerous”, “a monster”, “the worst in 60 years” and “the storm of a lifetime”.  By the end of this week we shall see if this storm lives up to the hype, but at this point it is definitely an immensely powerful storm.  Hurricanes of this magnitude very rarely come this far north, and panic is starting to set in all across the mid-Atlantic region as people realize that this is really happening.  Over a million people are in the process of evacuating, and it is being reported that there is “fighting for food” at the stores that still have some supplies left…

“It was chaotic! Oh my goodness, long lines!” said Fatimah Spivey.

Reilly Norman described it as “a mess in there; it’s wiped out clean.”

The water aisles were especially bare — empty shelf after empty shelf.

“We came around 1 and all the waters were gone,” said Blake Swain. “Now, it’s just people fighting for food.”

Interestingly, federal officials actually conducted a “simulation” that involved a category 4 hurricane hitting the mid-Atlantic region back in late April and early May…

Just months ago, disaster planners simulated a Category 4 hurricane strike alarmingly similar to the real-word scenario now unfolding on a dangerously vulnerable stretch of the East Coast.

That “simulation” produced “catastrophic damage” along the east coast, and as a result some experts are now concerned “that Hurricane Florence could produce a disaster comparable to 2005’s Hurricane Katrina“…

A fictional “Hurricane Cora” barreled into southeast Virginia and up the Chesapeake Bay to strike Washington, D.C., in the narrative created by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Argonne National Laboratory.

The result was catastrophic damage, which has some experts concerned that Hurricane Florence could produce a disaster comparable to 2005’s Hurricane Katrina and in a part of the country that is famously difficult to evacuate.

Let us hope that does not happen, because New Orleans still has not fully recovered from Hurricane Katrina after all this time.

But at this point things look very grim.  The computer models are predicting a storm surge of somewhere around 20 feet and up to 45 inches of rain in some parts of North Carolina.

In addition, it is being projected that the insurance industry could be facing up to 20 billion dollars in losses.

And all of those numbers assume that this will remain a Category 4 storm.  According to CNN, there is still a possibility that Florence “could become close to a Category 5 storm” before it slams into the Carolinas…

As of Tuesday morning, Florence was hurling 130-mph winds. Before it pummels the US coastline, Florence could become close to a Category 5 storm — meaning winds could approach 157 mph.

But even a Category 4 storm would be immensely devastating.

A 20 foot storm surge would cause more damage than the wind or the rain from the hurricane would.  It would essentially be a giant “wall of water” that would “swallow parts of the coast”…

“Storm surge has the highest potential to kill the most amount of people,” FEMA Administrator Brock Long said. “It also has the highest potential to cause the most destruction.”

Storm surge is basically a wall of water that could swallow parts of the coast.

“This will have a storm surge in the 20-foot range,” Myers said.

And meteorologists are warning that in a worst-case scenario we could actually see Florence stall along the east coast for an extended period of time.  According to the Weather Underground, this is how that could happen…

The steering currents driving Florence toward the East Coast will collapse on Friday, and models now agree the storm is likely to stall somewhere within 100 miles on either side of the coast, perhaps for one or two days.

The 12Z Tuesday run of the European model introduced a new and very distressing possibility: Florence stalling just offshore of North Carolina near Wilmington for roughly a day, then moving southwestward along and just off the South Carolina coast on Saturday, and finally making landfall close to Savannah, Georgia, on Sunday—all while still a hurricane. This outlandish-seeming prospect gained support from the 18Z run of the GFS model. It painted a very similar picture, with a landfall a bit farther north, near Charleston, on Sunday. The 18Z track from the experimental GFS FV3 model is very similar to the GFS track.

In such a scenario, the damage caused by this storm would be multiplied.

To say that this storm is “dangerous” would be a major understatement.  And let us not forget that there are 12 nuclear power reactors directly in the path of this storm.  If things go bad, they could go really, really bad.

As the storm draws closer to the coast, federal officials are begging people to get prepared…

Federal officials begged residents to put together emergency kits and have a plan on where to go.

“This storm is going to knock out power days into weeks. It’s going to destroy infrastructure. It’s going to destroy homes,” said Jeff Byard, an official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Of course those that have waited until now may find that it is already too late.

Gasoline stations all over the mid-Atlantic are already running out of gas, and store shelves are being “picked clean” of essential supplies…

Long lines formed at service stations, and some started running out of gas as far west as Raleigh, with bright yellow bags, signs or rags placed over the pumps to show they were out of order. Some store shelves were picked clean.

“There’s no water. There’s no juices. There’s no canned goods,” Kristin Harrington said as she shopped at a Walmart in Wilmington.

A “perfect storm” is literally heading for the east coast, and some believe that this could be a metaphor for what is happening to the nation as a whole.

For those of you living in the mid-Atlantic, please get out of the path of this storm, and our prayers are with you.

This article originally appeared on The Economic Collapse Blog.  About the author: Michael Snyder is a nationally syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is publisher of The Most Important News and the author of four books including The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters.

Hurricane Florence To Intensify “To Near Category 5 Strength” And There Are 12 Nuclear Power Reactors In The Carolinas

The latest forecast is projecting that Hurricane Florence will strengthen “to near category 5 strength” before it makes landfall in the Carolinas, and it is being called “a serious threat to lives and property”.  It is extremely rare for a hurricane of this intensity to come this far north, and one expert is claiming that Florence “has the potential to be the most destructive hurricane we’ve had in modern history for this region.”  At this time, the government is warning of “a life-threatening storm surge” of up to 20 feet or higher, “life-threatening freshwater flooding”, and “damaging hurricane-force winds”.  But there is another factor that not a lot of people are talking about.  There are 12 nuclear power reactors in the Carolinas, including two that are located right along the coast.

According to Google, there are 7 nuclear power reactors in South Carolina…

South Carolina hosts seven operating nuclear power reactors: Catawba Units 1 & 2, Oconee Units 1, 2 & 3, H. B.

And Google says that there are 5 nuclear power reactors in North Carolina…

North Carolina hosts five operating nuclear power reactors: Brunswick Units 1 & 2, McGuire Units 1 & 2, and Shearon Harris Unit 1. These account for nearly 32% of electricity generation in the state.

It is the two reactors at the Brunswick plant that are of the most concern because they sit right along the coast and they are directly in the projected path of the storm.

The following is what Wikipedia has to say about those reactors…

The Brunswick nuclear power plant, named for Brunswick County, North Carolina, covers 1,200 acres (490 ha). The site is adjacent to the town of Southport, North Carolina, and to wetlands and woodlands, and was opened in 1975.

The site contains two General Electric boiling water reactors, which are cooled by water collected from the Cape Fear River and discharged into the Atlantic Ocean.

In a worst case scenario, could we potentially be facing America’s version of Fukushima?

Hurricane Florence greatly intensified on Monday.  This is an excerpt from the very latest NOAA forecast…

1. A life-threatening storm surge is likely along portions of the coastlines of South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, and a Storm Surge Watch will likely be issued for some of these areas by Tuesday morning. All interests from South Carolina into the mid-Atlantic region should ensure they have their hurricane plan in place and follow any advice given by local officials.

2. Life-threatening freshwater flooding is likely from a prolonged and exceptionally heavy rainfall event, which may extend inland over the Carolinas and Mid Atlantic for hundreds of miles as Florence is expected to slow down as it approaches the coast and moves inland.

3. Damaging hurricane-force winds are likely along portions of the coasts of South Carolina and North Carolina, and a Hurricane Watch will likely be issued by Tuesday morning. Damaging winds could also spread well inland into portions of the Carolinas and Virginia.

And according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami, there is definitely a possibility that Hurricane Florence could still strengthen into a category 5 storm…

Experts weren’t ready to rule out the possibility that Florence could even make landfall as a Category 5 hurricane, a feat never achieved by any recorded storm in the region. Dennis Feltgen, a spokesperson for the National Hurricane Center in Miami, says that reaching Category 5 is “certainly a possibility.” If Florence doesn’t undergo a phenomenon known as an eyewall replacement cycle, which would weaken the storm, it has a chance of reaching the 157-mph boundary line and making history, Feltgen says.

As I mentioned earlier, it is very rare for a storm of this magnitude to make landfall this far north…

Landfalling Category 4 hurricanes are rare in the mainland U.S., with just 24 such landfalls since 1851—an average of one every seven years. (Category 5 landfalls are rarer still, with just three on record). All but three of these 27 landfalls by Cat4s and Cat5s have occurred south of South Carolina’s latitude; thus, Florence will be in very select company if it manages to make landfall at Category 4 strength in North or South Carolina.

We only have a couple of previous storms to go on in order to evaluate how bad the storm surge might be.  Unfortunately, water can pile up to enormous heights in this particular region because the continental shelf “extends out more than 50 miles from shore”…

It’s a good thing that landfalls by such strong hurricanes are rare along the South Carolina and North Carolina coast, since this coastline is extremely vulnerable to high storm surges. Two of these three historical Carolina Category 4 hurricanes generated a storm tide of 18 – 20 feet: Hugo of 1989 and Hazel of 1954. The other storm–Gracie of 1959–did not (it hit at low tide, significantly reducing the coastal flooding). The storm tide is the combination of the storm surge and the normal lunar tide, measured in height above sea level. The National Hurricane Center uses the terminology “height above ground level” when discussing the storm tide, meaning the height the surge plus tide gets above the normal high tide mark.

The high vulnerability of this coastline is because the continental shelf extends out more than 50 miles from shore, creating a large region of shallow water less than 150 feet deep just offshore that forces storm surge waters to pile up to staggering heights.

In a worst case scenario, we could be talking about an unprecedented mountain of water slamming into the Carolina coastline.

In fact, it is being projected that if Hurricane Florence becomes a category 5 storm that we could see a storm surge of up to 33 feet…

WU’s storm surge inundation maps for the U.S. coast, computed using NOAA’s SLOSH model, tell a frightening story. Depending on where its center makes landfall, a mid-strength Category 4 hurricane with 145 mph winds hitting at high tide, in a worst-case scenario, can generate a storm tide in excess of twenty feet above ground level along the entire coast of South Carolina, and along most of the coast of southern North Carolina from the South Carolina border to Morehead City. Many locations could see a higher surge, of up to 27 feet. And a Category 5 storm is much worse: a theoretical peak storm tide of 33 feet is predicted by the SLOSH model for the Intracoastal Waterway north of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. These peak surges occur over a 10 – 40 mile stretch of coast where the right eyewall makes landfall.

Let us hope that does not happen, because it is hard to imagine the immense devastation that such a storm surge would cause.

And remember – the two nuclear power reactors right along the coast at the Brunswick facility are directly in the path of this storm.

As news about the intensity of this storm has spread, “panic prepping” has been happening all over the Carolinas.  The following comes from Zero Hedge…

With memories of the devastation wrought by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria still fresh in the minds of US consumers, residents of South and North Carolina are taking zero chances as Hurricane Florence – now a Category 4 storm – barrels toward the eastern seaboard. According to local media reports, store shelves have been cleared of vital supplies like bottled water and food as anxious southerners brace for the worst-case scenario.

Shelves at Wal-Marts in North Carolina and South Carolina had been cleared out by Sunday evening, forcing the stores to frantically restock shelves as residents loaded up on everything from water to plywood to generators, per WGN9. Flashlights and batteries also flew off the shelves.

Of course if people had been prepared ahead of time, they would not have to be scrambling for rapidly disappearing supplies at the stores.

And it is being projected that more than a million people will evacuate from coastal areas by the time that this storm reaches shore…

Hurricane Florence is plowing toward the East Coast as a Category 4 storm with a 500-mile wing span, forcing dire warnings and mandatory evacuations – including the entire coastline of South Carolina and parts of Virginia and North Carolina.

In South Carolina alone, more than 1 million residents and tourists are expected to flee from coastal areas, Gov. Henry McMaster said Monday, vowing that state officials “are not going to gamble” with people’s lives.

This is an extremely dangerous storm, and I strongly urge those that live in the region to play it safe.

You can always replace property, but we only get one chance at this life, and so please do not be reckless with yours.

This article originally appeared on The Economic Collapse Blog.  About the author: Michael Snyder is a nationally syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is publisher of The Most Important News and the author of four books including The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters.

10 Very Strange Facts About The August 21 Solar Eclipse That Will Absolutely Blow Your Mind

In just a matter of days we are going to witness the most unusual solar eclipse in U.S. history. Could it be possible that all of the very strange “coincidences” surrounding this event have some sort of special significance?  The mainstream media has been buzzing about this upcoming solar eclipse for months, and it will easily be the most watched eclipse in all of U.S. history.  Last week, I published an article entitled “12 Critical Events That Are Going To Happen Over A 40 Day Period From August 21st To September 30th” that received an extraordinary amount of attention, and of course the first event on that list was “the Great American Eclipse” on the 21st.  As you will see below, so many numbers seem to indicate that this eclipse could have some sort of special significance, and it begins a period of exactly 40 days that many believe could be a turning point for America.

In the Scriptures, we are specifically told that one of the reasons why God created the sun and the moon was so that they could serve as “signs”.  The following is what Genesis 1:14 tells us…

“And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years“

And in Luke 21:25, the Lord Jesus specifically warned us to watch for signs “in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars” just prior to His return.

So we should be watching, and we should fully expect to see something happen up there before Christ comes back.

With that in mind, I would like to share some amazing facts about the solar eclipse on August 21st with you.  These were originally compiled by The Countdown Report, and when I first read them they definitely got my attention…

-First contact is in the state of Oregon, the 33rd state in the USA. The last contact is in South Carolina on the 33rd parallel. This eclipse happens on day 233 of the year. If the Revelation 12 sign is valid, then the eclipse is also 33 days before September 23, 2017. Jesus is thought to have been 33 when He died.

-Just for fun: It is 99 years (3 x 33) since the last eclipse to go coast-to-coast in the US, in 1918. From September 23, 2017 (Revelation 12 sign) to the end of the year, December 31, 2017 is 99 days (or 3 x 33). The number of days from the 1918 eclipse to the August 21 eclipse are 26,234 days. (2+6+2+3+4 = 17; 2017?). From August 12, 2017, the date of the Charlottesville Virginia “State of Emergency” declared to the August 21, 2017 Great Solar Eclipse is 9 days (3+3+3) and the dates are also mirrored – 12 and 21.

-First big city the eclipse hits in Oregon is Salem – Salem was named after Jerusalem. The eclipse also begins in Oregon exactly at sunset time in Jerusalem. So technically speaking, as the sun sets in America it will be setting in Jerusalem at the same time.

-The center line crosses through 12 primary states to receive total darkness. 12 disciples, 12 months in a year, the meaning of 12, which is considered a perfect number, is that it symbolizes God’s power and authority, as well as serving as a perfect governmental foundation.

-The eclipse path is exactly 70 miles wide. 70 has a sacred meaning in the Bible that has two perfect numbers, 7 that represents perfection and 10 that represents completeness and God’s law. 70 also symbolizes perfect spiritual order and a period of judgment. 70 is also specially connected with Jerusalem with so many references it would take a book to write.

-Another eclipse comes in 2024, 7 years after the August 21, 2017 and marks an X over the United States. The combined time of totality of these eclipses together will be 7 minutes. The day of the eclipse is August 21, 2017 – (7 + 7 + 7 = 21). The exact point where the two eclipses cross is right next to Cedar Lake in Illinois… specifically right next to SALEM Road. (Salem again!)

-The original form of the Hebrew letter Tav is like the English letter X or T – which is in the shape of a cross, or X– like the X that is made by the two solar eclipses on the cross paths over 7 years. The letter Tav means “a sign”.

-The path of the eclipse will be situated in such a way that every single state of the US will experience it, even Hawaii and Alaska.

-The totality will reach Oregon at 10:16 AM Pacific, and will end in South Carolina at 2:49 PM Eastern. That means it will take 1 hour and 33 minutes to cross the country. There is that 33 again.

-The eclipse is also exactly 40 days from Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur means “Day of Atonement” and is a time of repentance. While the eclipse day itself may come and go with everything remaining “normal” afterwards, we need to be focused on what could be coming soon after.

You can read the entire list of 33 facts that were compiled by The Countdown Report right here.  I just pulled out the ten that I considered to be the most remarkable.

According to Rachel Baxter, “40 is the number for waiting, preparation, testing or punishment. It is also the number to start a new chapter of the history of salvation”, and we see the number 40 pop up time after time in the Bible.

For instance, in Jonah 3:4 the prophet Jonah gave Ninevah a period of 40 days to repent before judgment would begin…

And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

Could this coming 40 day time period have some sort of special significance for us?

Like I said in my previous article, I don’t know if all of this means anything.

But Jesus did specifically instruct us to watch for signs in the sun and the moon, and the solar eclipse on August 21st involves both the sun and the moon.

On August 21st, I am going to be able to travel into the path of this eclipse.  Hopefully it will be a very clear day and I will be able to get some very clear pictures for my readers.

I don’t expect anything world shattering to take place on that particular day, but like millions of other Americans, I will definitely be looking up into the sky to see what happens…

Michael Snyder is a Republican candidate for Congress in Idaho’s First Congressional District, and you can learn how you can get involved in the campaign on his official website. His new book entitled “Living A Life That Really Matters” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.

12 Critical Events That Are Going To Happen Over A 40 Day Period From August 21st To September 30th

We are about to witness an extremely unusual convergence of events that many believe could represent a major turning point for our nation.  By now you have probably heard that on August 21st a total solar eclipse will move across the entire continental United States for the first time in decades.  In fact, we have not seen a total solar eclipse cross from the west coast to the east coast in 99 years.  And it will be the very first total solar eclipse that is only visible in this country since the United States first became a nation.  Starting with that event, there is going to be a whole lot going on until we reach the end of September.  The following are 12 critical events that are going to happen over a 40 day period from August 21st to September 30th…

August 21 – The “Great American Eclipse” will sweep across portions of Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.  Seven years later, another very unusual total solar eclipse will move across our nation, and when you plot the paths of both eclipses on a map, they form a giant “X” right over the center of the United States.

August 23 – A FEMA exercise known as “EarthEX2017” will simulate “catastrophes such as mega earthquakes, cyber terrorism or high altitude electromagnetic pulse attacks”…

An exercise sponsored by FEMA and the U.S. Department of Energy set to take place on August 23 called EarthEX2017 will wargame responses to catastrophes such as mega earthquakes, cyber terrorism or high altitude electromagnetic pulse attacks.

The exercise will simulate a “subcontinent-scale, long duration power outage, with cascading failures of all other infrastructures,” according to the official Earth Ex website.

“Black sky events” are defined as, “Catastrophic occurrences caused by man or nature that bring society to its knees.”

September 1 – This marks the start of FEMA’s annual “National Preparedness Month“.

September 1 – The U.S. State Department’s ban on U.S. citizens traveling into North Korea goes into effect.  Many are concerned that this is yet another sign that we are moving toward war with North Korea.

September 11 – This will be the 16th anniversary of 9/11.

September 20 – Rosh Hashanah begins at sunset.

September 21 – The UN International Day Of Peace

September 23 – This is the date of what has become known as “the Revelation 12 sign”.  If you are not familiar with this alignment yet, the following is a very brief summary…

On September 23rd a unique astronomical alignment of the Sun, Moon, constellation Virgo, constellation Leo, and planets Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, and Venus is going to fulfill this passage from the book of Revelation:

And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.  She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth.

September 24 – Very important national elections will be held in Germany.

September 29 – Yom Kippur begins at sunset, and it concludes on September 30th.  Of course September 30th will be the end of a 40 day period that began back on the day of the Great American Eclipse on August 21st.

September 29 – U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says that the debt ceiling will be breached on this day if Congress does not raise it by then.

September 30 – If Congress does not pass a budget by the end of this day, there will be a government shutdown just like we witnessed in 2013.

On top of everything else, the month of September is when the Federal Reserve is scheduled to begin unwinding  their 4.5 trillion dollar balance sheet…

The other big market force that could ruffle markets is clearly the Fed, which is expected to begin the untested task of unwinding its $4.5 trillion balance sheet in September.

In addition, it is very interesting to note that a large asteroid will come within 4,200 miles of our planet on October 12th…

The asteroid has not been seen since its 2012 discovery, when it sped past Earth at about one-fourth the distance from Earth to the moon. It’s been too distant and too faint to be detected over the last five years. As it starts to approach Earth this summer, large telescopes will be used to detect it and re-establish the asteroid’s precise trajectory.

The asteroid, known as 2012 TC4, could come as close as 4,200 miles to Earth, NASA said. That’s actually fairly close, when you consider that the moon is about 239,000 miles away.

So what does all of this mean?

I don’t know, but I am sure that I will receive even more criticism for putting this list together.  Those of us that monitor global events and warn about where things are headed are often highly criticized.  But in this day and age, we desperately need independent thinkers that are willing to challenge the system.  Way too often people just go with the herd and will believe whatever the mainstream media tells them to think.

Never let someone else do your thinking for you.  Investigate things for yourself and come to your own conclusions.  Learning to think critically is one of the most important skills that you can have, and you will find that it is one of the most common traits among those that are truly “awake” to what is going on in the world.

The truth is out there, and if you diligently seek it you will eventually find it.

Michael Snyder is a Republican candidate for Congress in Idaho’s First Congressional District, and you can learn how you can get involved in the campaign on his official website. His new book entitled “Living A Life That Really Matters” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.

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