Ophelia makes landfall in NC; Flood warnings in effect as areas hit with heavy rain, winds
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Tropical Storm Ophelia made landfall in North Carolina. The center of Ophelia made landfall early Saturday morning around 6 a.m. just west of Cape Lookout. That is a little farther west than expected from earlier in the week, so the risk of thunderstorms now extends inland too, but not west of the Triangle.
Rainfall totals in the viewing area so far from this system have ranged from 1 to 3 inches and Flood Watches remain in place until this evening.
Power outages spread through more states beyond North Carolina, where tens of thousands of homes and businesses remained without electricity across several eastern counties as of Saturday afternoon, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports.
"When you have that slow-moving storm with several inches of rain, coupled with a gust that gets to 30, 40 miles per hour, that's enough to bring down a tree or to bring down limbs," Duke Energy spokesperson Jeff Brooks said. "And that's what we've seen in most of the areas where we've experienced outages."
Heavy rain, strong winds bring power outages to thousands
Several counties in and around the area are currently under a flood warning.
WATCH: LIVE TROPICAL STORM CONDITION UPDATES
The peak of the storm in the Triangle went through the area this morning when east to northeast winds gust to 30-50 mph resulting in downed tree limbs and scattered power outages.
A large tree came down in Wake Forest due to the conditions.
Several events were also canceled in Downtown Raleigh and Fayetteville Saturday morning due to strong wind gusts that brought down trees in the area.
The governors of North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland each declared a state of emergency on Friday.
Winds and rain will diminish along the coast tonight. All areas over the eastern part of the state will have a much better day Sunday with sunshine returning and much less wind.
FULL FORECAST
The Associated Press contributed.
