Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

The Weather Channel's Video On What The Effects Of Hurricane Flooding Could Look Like Is Freaking People The Hell Out

The Weather Channel's Video On What The Effects Of Hurricane Flooding Could Look Like Is Freaking People The Hell Out
(The Weather Channel/YouTube)

The Weather Channel is reminding North Carolina residents in the path of Hurricane Florence to heed evacuation warnings before it's too late.

And nothing is more motivational than a virtual reality demonstration of the monster storm's devastating effects.


To incentivize residents to pack their bags, the Weather Channel provided a digital rendering of the flood occurring on typical dry land, engulfing the meteorologist.

Take a look at the YouTube video, below:


The presentation is called "immersive mixed reality," according to Ren LaForme, who reported on the video for Poynter.

The convincing digital portrayal was created in partnership with the augmented reality company, The Future Group, by using Unreal Engine to render the graphics that looked all too real for many North Carolina residents.

Unreal Engine is a popular video game developer known for creating "Fortnite" and "Ark: Survival Evolved."

"Rather than creating effects and rendering them in post-production, the process used to create visuals for most films, the Unreal Engine builds effects in real time."


Michael Potts, vice president of design at The Weather Channel, hopes the visual aid will be more effective in conveying the urgency of safety precautions during the storm.

Potts stated:

"The takeaway is that there are ways to remain safe, to have a plan, and to see all that valuable information in a way that isn't just four lines on a chart."





The presentation is really driving the point home for viewers in the Carolinas and beyond.




Water levels indeed rose as the storm slowly moved inland. The devastation is immediately evident and heartbreaking.

"You can walk faster than this storm is moving," said Wilmington, North Carolina's mayor, Bill Saffo. While the storm stalls it continues to drop rain in the affected areas, raising water levels even more.



Many of the beautiful trees in Wilmington were ravaged by the flood and disappeared.

Meteorologist Marshall Shepherd told The Verge that the hurricane bringing torrential downpour of rain is "a recipe for a flooding disaster."

The National Hurricane Center predicted Florence will bring deadly storm surges resulting in flood levels up to 11 feet high.

To give their statistics a visual reference people could relate to, the NHC provided an illustration showing the varying heights at which the flood can reach by using a home occupied by a family. In the storm surge flooding chart, a nine-foot water level is indicated as red and can easily submerge a single-floor household.



As of Friday, 600,000 homes were without power and 2,100 flights into North Carolina canceled through Saturday.

H/T - YouTube, Twitter, Poynter, Verge, CBS

More from Trending

A person cooking with a mis en place
person slicing green vegetable in front of round ceramic plates with assorted sliced vegetables during daytime

Chefs Break Down The Best Cooking 'Hacks' Everyone Should Know

While some people find cooking soothing and therapeutic, others might break into hives at the very thought of it.

Mainly owing to the fact that they don't always find the journey quite worth the payoff of a perfectly cooked roast chicken, or a spongy and creamy cake.

Keep ReadingShow less
Gavin Newsom; Screenshot of Donald Trump
Mario Tama/Getty Images; @atrupar/X

Gavin Newsom Hilariously Trolls Trump For Struggling To Stay Awake During Antifa Roundtable

California Governor Gavin Newsom mocked President Donald Trump for appearing to fall asleep during a White House roundtable about Antifa, which the administration recently designated a "domestic terror organization" even though it's not an organization at all.

Antifa is a loose network of anti-fascist activists with no central structure, no funding, no membership roster, and no offices or leadership hierarchy for prosecutors to target.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @timleesblee's TikTok video
@timleesblee/TikTok

Remote Worker Speaks Out After Job Uses 'Dystopian' Software To Track His Productivity

There are a few vital truths to every office-based job. First, there are going to be "busy work" moments, from meetings to admin tasks to minor side-quest-style projects that add to the company in some small way but otherwise feel like a waste of time.

Second, as human beings, we all need breaks to restore our mental focus, so a person who occasionally scrolls through their personal email, sends a few texts to a friend, or even scrolls Instagram for a few minutes, will likely be more productive than those who attempt to lock in and do nothing but their job throughout their entire shift.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot from @skylr.m's TikTok video
@skylr.m/TikTok

Texas Mechanic Speaks Out After Noticing How The Price Of Services Skyrocketed Within The Past Year

A mechanic in Texas turned heads with his observations about how dramatically prices have gone up in the past year.

TikToker @skylr.m from San Antonio, Texas, admitted that he doesn't know anything "about politics" but felt the price jumps he's been witnessing in real time are "pretty crazy."

Keep ReadingShow less
Tweet and photos from @ZONEofTECH's  Twitter (X) account
@ZONEofTECH/Twitter (X)

Man Hospitalized After Samsung Galaxy Smart Ring Swells On His Finger Before Flight

Most of us have worn a ring at some point in time. If the ring felt a little snug and struggled to pass the knuckle, we might have experienced that irrational fear that the ring might not ever come off again!

But for Twitter (X) user, Daniel, that became a valid concern while wearing his Samsung Galaxy Ring.

Keep ReadingShow less