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Tropical Storm Ophelia is barreling across eastern North Carolina, bringing high gusts, coastal flooding and life-threatening rip currents northward to New Jersey over the weekend.
Around 6:15 a.m. ET, Ophelia made landfall near Emerald Isle, N.C., with maximum winds of 70 mph, the National Hurricane Center said. Heading northward, the storm will move across eastern North Carolina over to southeastern Virginia then the Delmarva Peninsula into Sunday.
In the center’s latest advisory from 11 a.m. ET, the storm was generating 50 mph winds. Forecasters said 3-5 inches of rainfall is expected across parts of eastern North Carolina and southeast Virginia into Saturday night. Ophelia is forecast to produce as much as 8 inches of rain in some areas of the region.
Portions of the Mid-Atlantic are forecast to get 2-4 inches of rainfall into Sunday, which could create flash, urban and small stream flooding in parts of North Carolina to New Jersey, forecasters said.
New York through southern New England could get 1-3 inches through Monday morning.
On Friday, the governors of Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia declared a state of emergency.
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A tropical storm warning was in effect from east of Cape Lookout, N.C., to Fenwick Island, Del. This included Albemarle and Pamlico sounds in North Carolina, the Tidal Potomac River south of Cobb Island, Md., and Chesapeake Bay south of North Beach, Md.
The region stretching from…
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