Ophelia made landfall near Emerald Isle, North Carolina, on Saturday morning as a strong tropical storm and will now head inland and up the East Coast, delivering heavy rain, strong winds and coastal flooding well beyond its center, CNN reports.
The storm roared ashore with 70 mph sustained winds, just shy of hurricane strength. Tropical-storm force winds extend up to 310 miles from Ophelia’s core and had knocked out power to at least 70,000 homes and businesses across the mid-Atlantic and North Carolina by early Saturday, according to utility tracking site PowerOutage.us.
The Ophelia storm had 65 mph winds as of 8 a.m. and will continue to weaken as it moves farther inland, but power outages could grow as it affects more areas.
Ophelia is on track to move across eastern North Carolina and then travel through southeastern Virginia, before heading farther north across the Delmarva Peninsula on Saturday and Sunday, the National Hurricane Center said.
The storm’s shield of rain extends hundreds of miles from its center and is already dumping heavy rain across a large swath of the mid-Atlantic, including Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey and New York.
But coastal areas in North Carolina are bearing the brunt of impacts as the center of the expansive storm barges into the state.
Storm surge flooded coastal areas and inlets in North Carolina overnight and winds gusting to 73 mph hit Cape Lookout, along the state’s Outer Banks.
The flooding began on Friday, when roads were submerged in communities along North Carolina’s coast. In coastal Cedar Island, water collected on Highway 12, though it was open and passable, the state transportation department said.
“But please don’t go out tonight unless you absolutely have to. There is sand and water on the roadway, and it’s dark and stormy,” the department said in a social media post.
In New Bern, which sits along two rivers in North Carolina about 120 miles east of Raleigh, roads were flooded and water creeped inland as the levels rose in the downtown area, city officials said on Facebook. Photos posted on the city’s page show a flooded children’s park and ducks floating down the street on floodwaters.
Water levels also rose overnight in the Chesapeake Bay, along the coasts of Virginia and Maryland.
Ahead of the Ophelia storm, states of emergency were declared in Virginia, North Carolina and Maryland, warning residents to take precautions.
“If you can avoid driving or being out during the storm please do so. We are expecting an extended period of strong winds, heavy rainfall, and elevated tides,” Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said.