Severe weather threatens south
System closes in on region; could wash out holiday weekend
RODANTHE, N.C. — Beachgoers, boat captains and business owners on North Carolina’s Outer Banks warily eyed a potent tropical weather system Monday that could rain out one of the last busy weeks of the summer.
The first system was expected by forecasters to become a tropical storm before brushing the North Carolina coast Tuesday, bringing heavy rain and high winds to barrier islands popular for serene beaches.
Another tropical depression in the Gulf of Mexico could hit northern Florida as a tropical storm later in the week and possibly head toward the Atlantic coast, forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami said. They cautioned that the storm’s exact path remained uncertain days in advance.
Coastal Dare County in North Carolina could face winds of up to 45 mph with higher gusts and heavy rain that could flood lowlying areas from through Wednesday, according to an emergency management news release. To the south, Carteret County officials also warned of flooding and advised residents to monitor forecasts.
A tropical storm warning was issued for areas of the coast from Cape Lookout to the Oregon Inlet along the Outer Banks.
“I would advise everybody to look at the weather,” Dare County emergency management director Drew Pearson said when asked whether visitors should keep their travel plans. “They need to make decisions based on what they see in the weather forecast.”
Tourists sought to take the approaching storm in stride.
Visitor Katherine Vega, 45, of Springhill, Tennessee, said she could handle a day indoors during her vacation. By Monday afternoon, she had already fled the Atlantic’s swelling waves and strengthening currents off Hatteras Island in Buxton.
“We were just kneedeep, and there were a few times where we had to run out because it kept sucking us in,” she said, adding she’d watch movies with her husband until the storm blows through.
As of 5 p.m. Monday, the first depression was located about 140 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras with top sustained winds of 35 mph and moving to the northwest. It was expected to become a tropical storm by Tuesday but not grow stronger than that, said National Weather Service meteorologist Shane Kearns in eastern North Carolina.
“Anything is possible, but we’re not really seeing any significant strengthening for the storm,” he said.
The second depression was about 195 miles west of Key West, Florida, with maximum winds of 35 mph. It was moving west, but forecasters expect it could curve back to the northeast in the coming days. Authorities at some locations in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area of Florida were hauling out sandbags Monday to offer residents amid predictions of heavy rains.
On North Carolina’s Outer Banks, business owner Jennifer Scarborough said her biggest concern was that the first storm could saturate the area before another blow by the second storm.
“The second storm is the one I’m more worried about,” she said. “I’m definitely keeping an eye on it and planning accordingly.”
Roads along the thin barrier islands are prone to flooding and damage from erosion, including the twolane N.C. Highway 12 that is the area’s main northsouth artery.