Isaias near hurricane strength as it moves north
NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Isaias was forecast to strike land as a minimal hurricane on Monday in the Carolinas, where coastal residents braced for possible storm surge and flooding rains.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane warning from South Santee River, South Carolina, to Surf City, North Carolina. A tropical storm warning was extended northward up the U.S. East Coast all the way to mouth of the Merrimack River in New Hampshire.
Isaias was still a tropical storm at 2 p.m. EDT with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph, but it was expected to strengthen into a Category 1 hurricane later Monday, with winds of 74 mph or more.
“We are forecasting it to become a hurricane before it reaches the coast this evening,” senior hurricane specialist Daniel Brown said. “It’s forecast to produce a dangerous storm surge, of 3 to 5 feet (0.9 to 1.5 meters) in portions of North and South Carolina.”
Isaias could bring heavy rains, too — up to 8 inches in spots as it moves up the coast, Brown said.
“All those rains could produce flash flooding across portions of eastern Carolinas and mid-atlantic, and even in the northeast U.S.,” he said.
Isaias killed two people in the Caribbean
and roughed up the Bahamas but remained at sea as it brushed past Florida over the weekend, providing some welcome relief to emergency managers who had to accommodate mask-wearing evacuees in storm shelters. The center of Isaias remained well offshore as it passed Georgia’s coast on Monday.
Authorities were getting ready in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, ordering swimmers out of the water to avoid rough surf and strong rip currents. Still, many people were out enjoying the beach, walking dogs and getting their feet wet under overcast skies.
“We’re from Michigan, so we get snow and go through it all,” Aliyah Owens, who arrived in Myrtle Beach for a summer vacation Sunday, told WTBWTV. “A little water isn’t going to hurt.”
The storm was about 180 miles south-southwest of Myrtle Beach on Monday afternoon; it was expected to pick up speed as it marched northward.
On Pawleys Island, southwest of Myrtle Beach, Terrie Wilson Heffner moved outdoor furniture and potted plants against her house and kept her TV tuned to weather reports. Otherwise, she wasn’t too worried about the approaching storm. A coastal South Carolina resident since 1981, when Hurricane Hugo destroyed her parents’ home, Heffner said she doesn’t leave except for major storms.
“They don’t really scare me,” Heffner said, “but I have great respect for them.”
Officials in frequently flooded Charleston, South Carolina, handed out sandbags and opened parking garages so residents on the low-lying peninsula that includes downtown could stow their cars above ground.
Though the center of Isaias was expected to pass offshore of Charleston Monday evening, National Weather Service meteorologists said a major flood was possible if rainfall is heavy when the high tide arrives at about 9 p.m.
Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg told a news conference he didn't plan a curfew, though city offices were closing early. He asked residents to stay home after 6 p.m. when winds are predicted to increase above 40 mph and flooding could be at its worst.