Hurricane Florence makes top list for Google 2018 searches

Hurricane Florence was the second most searched phrase on Google for 2018. Florence was the first major hurricane of 2018 Atlantic hurricane season and became a Cat 4 between September 4-5. Hurricane Irma was number one on google for 2017.

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Florence made landfall in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina in the morning of September 14. This hurricane broke records when it comes to rainfall. It dumped 35 inches of rainfall which broke the record for the wettest tropical cyclone to impact the Carolinas. Overall, it was the 8th wettest in the United States.

Florence moved very slowly on land so heavy rainfall and storm surge caused major flooding to the coast and inland flooding was destructive too. Wilmington ended up being cut-off because of flooding! 35.93 inches of rain fell in Elizabethtown, NC and winds at Cape Lookout gusted to 106 mph. Historic river flooding was also produced by the massive amount of rainfall that Florence produced.

More than 50 deaths were reported from Hurricane Florence and damage is estimated at more than 17 billion dollars.