Wind, rain but maybe no name as tropical disturbance approaches Carolinas coast
MIAMI (AP) — Heavy winds and rains from a storm in the Atlantic that wasn’t quite organized enough to get a name hit a stretch of the southeastern U.S. coast Monday.
The center of the storm system was expected to reach the South Carolina coast Monday afternoon and then move inland across the Carolinas through Wednesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Strong winds were spreading onshore and dozens of roads were flooded.
The system didn’t have an official name yet, and forecasters weren’t sure if Potential Tropical Cyclone No. 8 would ever organize enough to be named Helene.
But no matter its classification, the storm prompted school closings, including Coastal Carolina University, and flooded the streets south of Wilmington, North Carolina, with more than a foot (30 centimeters) of rain while nearby Wrightsville Beach had a wind gust of 65 mph (105 kph).
In Brunswick County, North Carolina, flooding reached waist high in areas around the courthouse, the Sheriff’s Office said. About 15 miles (24 kilometers) away in Carolina Beach, dozens of vehicles had floodwaters up to their doors as officials urged people to stay home. Radar estimated up to 18 inches (46 centimeters) of rain fell in the area.
A tropical storm warning was in effect from the South Santee River north of Charleston, South Carolina, northward to Ocracoke Inlet, near the southernmost extreme of North Carolina’s Outer Banks.
Monday afternoon, the low-pressure system was centered about 90 miles (150 kilometers) east-northeast of Charleston and about 60 miles (95 kilometers) south-southwest of Cape Fear, North Carolina. It had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (65 kph) and was moving to the north-northwest at 5 mph (7 kph), forecasters said.
The system still had a chance of becoming a tropical or subtropical storm, but forecasters said those chances are decreasing because it was becoming less organized. That means the strongest winds in the storm are in outer rain bands instead of near the center, said Carl Morgan, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s office in Wilmington.
“There are still strong winds out there. They just not concentrating near a center,” Morgan said.
Areas along the coast are already experiencing higher water levels thanks to King Tides this week while the moon is the closest to Earth in its orbit. Charleston was not predicting major flooding, but officials warned residents to be ready in case heavy rain came at high tide.
In an updated hurricane outlook last month the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was still predicting a highly active Atlantic hurricane season thanks to near-record sea surface temperatures and the possibility of La Nina. Emergency management officials have urged people to stay prepared.
Maximum winds were expected to decrease as the low approached the coast, but tropical storm-force winds were still expected within the warning areas. The system will likely dissipate over the Carolinas by late Wednesday, forecasters said.
The storm was expected to dump 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) of rain in northeast South Carolina into southeast North Carolina and up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) in isolated spots, with smaller amounts expected across the remainder of North Carolina through Tuesday, according to forecasters.
Over much of Virginia, 1 to 3 inches (2.5 to 8 centimeters) of rainfall, with locally higher amounts, were expected from Monday night through Wednesday. The hurricane center predicted the rainfall could lead to isolated and scattered flash and urban flooding, as well as minor river flooding.
Elsewhere in the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Gordon weakened to a depression as it swirls through open ocean waters. Gordon could either dissolve in upcoming days or strengthen back into a tropical storm, forecasters said.
