Hurricane Isaias touched down near Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina Monday night around 11 p.m., the National Hurricane Center reported.
What We Know:
- Isaias made landfall with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph which has since dropped to 70 mph. The hurricane has since been downgraded to a tropical storm. “Now that the center has moved further inland into east North Carolina, the winds are now coming back down, so it has been downgraded back to a tropical storm,” said Robbie Berg, a hurricane specialist with the National Hurricane Center.
- The storm set some homes ablaze near Ocean Isle Beach, Debbie Smith, the town’s Mayor, reported. The weather service also issued tornado warnings for southeastern Virginia. “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,” Berg added.
Here are the 11 AM EDT August 4 Key Messages for Tropical Storm Isaias. Deteriorating weather conditions continue to spread northward across the mid-Atlantic coastal region and will spread across New England tonight. More info: https://t.co/tW4KeGdBFb and https://t.co/SiZo8ozBbn pic.twitter.com/obhDnorwqB
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) August 4, 2020
- Thousands of power outages have been reported by Duke Energy across North Carolina as high winds and rain continue to ravage the region. North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper warned state residents of the dangers Isaias can bring. “Whether it’s labeled a tropical storm or a hurricane, you should take this storm seriously, and make sure your family is ready.”
The storm will move into southeastern Virginia later Tuesday as heavy winds and strong rainfall will persist along the northeast.
