After the Storm, a Flood of Data

More than a week after Hurricane Florence made landfall, many roads in the Carolinas remain inundated. Receding floodwaters have left behind a trail of destruction (and dead fish) on major highways, and hundreds of roads and bridges are heavily damaged or impassable because of fallen trees and power lines. And more flooding is expected as rain-swollen rivers in South Carolina crest. As of Friday, more than 840 roads in North and South Carolina remained closed.

For drivers used to relying on GPS navigation apps, it can be dangerously fluid situation, since road conditions can change too fast for official government maps of road closures to keep up. Following complaints on social media of evacuees who followed a third-party navigation app and ended up in a flooded street, the North Carolina Department of Transportation warned motorists not to trust GPS navigation apps like Waze last week.