Isais carves out path of destruction up I-95
Tropical
WINDSOR, N.C. — Storm Isaias spawned tornadoes and dumped rain along the U.S. East Coast on Tuesday after making landfall as a hurricane in North Carolina, where it smashed boats together and caused floods and fires that displaced dozens of people. At least two people were killed when one of its twisters hit a mobile home park.
More than 12 hours after coming ashore, Isaias was still sustaining top winds of 70 mph, near hurricane strength, Tuesday and its forward march accelerated to 35 mph. The National Hurricane Center warned of poten- tially life-threatening flooding in the District of Columbia, Baltimore and other points along the I-95 corridor.
Two people died and about 20 were injured after a tornado “totally demolished” several mobile homes in Windsor, North Carolina, said Juan Vaughan II, county manager for Bertie County. Three people were unac- counted for, authorities said.
“We’re still in active searches going on right now,” Vaughan said. “We really want to make sure everyone is found safe as soon as possible.”
An aerial shot by WRAL-TV showed fields of debris where rescue workers in brightly colored shirts picked through splintered boards and other wreckage. Nearby, a vehicle was flipped onto its roof, its tires pointed up in the air.
“It doesn’t look real; it looks like something on TV. Nothing is there,” Bertie County Sheriff John Holley told reporters, saying 10 mobile homes had been destroyed. “All my officers are down there at this time.
Pretty much the entire trailer park is gone.”
Isaias toggled between hurricane and tropical storm strength as it churned toward the East Coast. Fueled by warm ocean waters, the storm got a late burst of strength as a rejuvenated hurricane with top sustained winds of 85 mph before coming ashore late Monday near Ocean Isle Beach, North Car- olina.
Many homes flooded in Ocean Isle Beach, and at least five caught fire.
Before making landfall late Monday, Isaias killed two people in the Caribbean and battered the Bahamas before brushing past Flor- ida. On Tuesday, forecast- ers expected it to remain a tropical storm on a path into New England.
“We don’t think there is going to be a whole lot of weakening. We still think there’s going to be very strong and gusty winds that will affect much of the mid-Atlantic and the Northeast over the next day or two,” hurricane specialist Robbie Berg said.
Tornadoes were confirmed by the National Weather Ser- vice in Virginia, Maryland,
Delaware and New Jersey. Power outages also spread as trees fell, with more than 1.2 million customers losing electricity, most of them in New Jersey, North Carolina and Virginia, according to PowerOutage.US, which tracks utility reports.
The National Hurricane Center said at 4 a.m. Tuesday that threats of tornadoes were beginning to spread into southeastern Virginia.
The storm set off flooding and sparked five home fires in Ocean Isle Beach, Debbie Smith, the town’s Mayor, told WECT-TV. Firefighters were battling the blaze with assistance from firefighters in South Carolina, Tony Casey, a spokesperson for Horry County Fire Rescue, said.
About 80 miles north of Ocean Isle Beach, about 30 people were displaced due to a fire at a condominium complex in Surf City, news outlets reported.
It is not clear if those fires were connected to the storm. No injuries have been reported.
The storm was expected to bring down trees and cause power outages as it moved north.