See What a Flood Surge of 9 Feet Looks Like

The unwelcome Florence has almost arrived. The Category 2 hurricane is due to make landfall in North Carolina on Friday with devastating consequences, and the Washington Post reports that flooding already has begun. See the National Hurricane Center for the latest, including projections on rainfall and wind along the storm's expected path. Related coverage of Florence and other menacing storms, including Super Typhoon Mangkhut:

• Augmented reality: Wilmington, NC, could see a flood surge of 9 feet. What would that look like? See this tweeted video from meteorologist Ryan Davidson for a scary explanation.
• Waffle House: The chain has its own storm center and is monitoring Florence, and Fortune explains the significance. Waffle House tries to keep stores open no matter the forecast, and FEMA actually uses a "Waffle House index" to gauge how bad things are—green means the local restaurant is open, yellow means open with limited menu, and red means closed.
• On their own: Animals at three major aquariums in the Outer Banks of North Carolina will have to ride out the storm without their human handlers, reports Reuters. The sites are located within mandatory evacuation zones, and the humans have prepared the facilities as best they could before clearing out.

• Other storms: The Philippines is bracing for Super Typhoon Mangkhut, which by some estimates is the equivalent of a Category 5 storm, reports Quartz. In fact, it could wind up being the most devastating storm to hit Hong Kong in the modern era, notes the South China Morning Post. Then there's Tropical Storm Barijat (near China), Tropical Storm Olivia (which has made landfall in Hawaii), Tropical Storm Isaac (near the Leeward Islands), and Hurricane Helene and Subtropical Storm Joyce, both in the Atlantic, per the AP.
• Alarming trend: Yes, Florence is slowing down, but that could make it more dangerous, notes the New York Times. If the hurricane stalls over land, much as Hurricane Harvey did last year, the result could be devastating amounts of water. Worse, researchers say hurricanes have been following this trend in recent decades.
• Budweiser: A Georgia brewery that makes Budweiser suspended normal operations and is sending 300,000 cans—of drinking water—to the Carolinas, reports Fox News.
• Mixed messages: Jimmy Buffett, he of "Margaritaville" fame, posted a warning on Instagram imploring his fans to "respect mother nature, please be safe and listen to your local authorities." Accompanying that warning was a photo of him and another man with surfboards at Folly Beach, SC, which USA Today notes is directly in the storm's path. Buffett quoted his own song: "I feel like going surfing in a hurricane."

(More Hurricane Florence stories.)