Hurricane Ian, the fifth hurricane of the Atlantic season, is expected to rapidly intensify, and is expected to make landfall in Florida by midday Thursday. It’s also expected to impact eastern North Carolina.
Meteorologist Olivia Cahill with the National Weather Service in Newport/Morehead City said the storm is expected to include 25 to 35 miles per hour winds and a lot of rain.
“Most likely hazards for eastern North Carolina are heavy rains with possible flash flooding and river flooding across our entire area,” Cahill said, “We are expecting to get three to seven inches of rain end of this week into this weekend.”
She said an isolated tornado or waterspout is not out of the picture Friday night into Saturday.
“The threat for tornados is possible but it’s not as likely as the heavy rain, “she explained.
The wind direction and astronomical tides, she said, raise concerns for flooding
“It’s looking like we’ll be having strong northeasterly winds that may be starting as early as Wednesday night,” Cahill said, “They could be between 20 and 30 knots, so that’s approximately 25 to 35 miles per hour, with those then coastal impacts, more flooding, starting on Thursday and then on through the weekend.”
Ian’s heavy rains, she said, mean possible flash flooding and river flooding across all of eastern North Carolina.
