A storm system that was not quite a tropical storm was spinning off the coast of the Carolinas on Monday, dropping what forecasters called “historic rainfall,” rivaling totals that fell during Tropical Storm Debby last month.
Despite having tropical-storm-force winds above 39 miles per hour, the storm fell technically short of becoming what would have been the eighth named storm of this year’s Atlantic hurricane season, Helene. More akin to a typical storm system over the United States, the storm’s energy came from interacting air masses instead of from the rising warm, humid air of the ocean.
But even without the name, the hazards are the same. It has produced significant impacts on Monday, with life-threatening flash flooding reported in portions of southeastern North Carolina and wind gusts in excess of 60 mph along the coast, forecasters with the National Hurricane Center said Monday afternoon.
Flash flooding was ongoing early Monday afternoon as over half a foot of rain had fallen since midnight across southeastern North Carolina. Forecasters are warning that considerable flash flooding will likely continue, with an additional four to eight inches of rainfall possible through the afternoon.
Tropical Storm Debby brought more that a foot of rain across some parts of the Carolinas in August, submerging vehicles and even putting waste sites at risk. Forecasters did not originally expect as much rain for Monday. But by early afternoon, some locations, like Sunny Point, N.C., had already seen nearly 15 inches of rain, the top end of what fell in North Carolina during Debby.
Carolina Beach, N.C., had seen over 18 inches of rain since midnight, surpassing the 11 inches that fell in the beachfront community during Debby. Forecasters out of Wilmington, N.C., called the likelihood of that amount of rain occurring in only 12 hours a one-in-a-thousand-year event.
Schools in New Hanover County, which was partially under flash flood warning Monday afternoon, dismissed all students early and canceled classes at Carolina Beach Elementary School, which is just a couple blocks from the coast. All schools in neighboring Brunswick County canceled classes on Tuesday.
WECT, a local Wilmington television station, showed footage of cars and cargo vans stuck in floodwaters, as well as road closures in the area. Several roads in Brunswick County have collapsed or partially collapsed on Monday, according to posts shared on Facebook by the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office.
Brunswick County government offices were closed on Monday because of a declared state of emergency. Officials in the city of Southport, N.C., which is about 30 miles south of Wilmington, closed the roads to all incoming traffic and told residents to shelter in place at their homes or places of work, according to the city’s Facebook posts.
Key things to know
-
Most of the rain will fall near or north of the storm’s center, with widespread totals of four to eight inches and a few areas getting nearly 10 inches of rainfall in North Carolina.
-
The storm system is expected to continue to move slowly inland overnight as rains spread across North Carolina. On Tuesday, the remnants of the storm will move into Virginia, bringing the potential for some flooding rains across the commonwealth into Wednesday morning.
-
As the storm approached land, its winds weakened below tropical-storm-force (39 m.p.h. or greater), prompting the hurricane center to drop the tropical storm warnings that had flanked the coast.
A typical storm system that moves across the United States will get its energy from the interaction of cold and warm air masses, which forecasters believe is happening off the coast of the Carolinas this morning. A tropical cyclone, like a tropical storm or hurricane, will get its power from warm, humid air rising from the ocean’s surface.
The post Storm Lashes the Carolinas With ‘Historic’ Amounts of Rain appeared first on New York Times.
