Tropical Storm Nestor races toward Florida Panhandle, could bring rain and strong winds to NC

A tropical storm is likely to bring rain to North Carolina this weekend.

Tropical Storm Nestor bore down on the northern Gulf Coast with high winds, surging seas and heavy rains Friday evening, threatening to hit an area of the Florida Panhandle devastated one year ago by Hurricane Michael.

But unlike Michael, a powerful storm that left thousands of people homeless and nearly wiped the Panhandle city of Mexico Beach off the map, Florida wasn’t bracing for a catastrophe.

“We’ve done very little preparation only because there’s nothing really to prepare for,” said Mexico City Beach Mayor Al Cathey. “We haven’t seen any alarm at all.”

As of Friday evening, the state had activated its emergency operations center, but only at its lowest level. In an area that’s recently gone weeks without rain, the storm was seen more as a welcome sight.

Nestor was forecast to hit the coast around Mexico Beach on Saturday morning without strengthening into a hurricane. Blasted by Michael in October 2018, the area is still trying to recover.

The National Hurricane Center said high winds and dangerous storm surge were likely along parts of the northern Gulf Coast. And heavy rains had already began pelting parts of the coastline Friday evening, welcome relief for a parched region dealing with a drought.

Forecasters said Nestor was centered early Saturday about 85 miles south-southwest of Panama City, Florida. It had top sustained winds of 50 mph and was moving to the northeast at 17 mph.

The hurricane center said Nestor was expected to head inland across the Panhandle on Saturday morning and cross parts of the Southeast over the weekend before moving into the Atlantic off North Carolina by late Sunday.

Forecasters expect blustery winds and heavy rain in parts of Alabama, Georgia and northern Florida, reaching the Carolinas and Virginia by Sunday.

The system could dump from 2 to 4 inches of rain from the central Gulf Coast to the eastern Carolinas, where many areas are dried out from weeks without rain, and as much as 6 inches in spots, forecasters said.