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Hurricane Ian expected to strike Florida, bring heavy rain to NC
RALEIGH, N.C. — Central and eastern North Carolina is bracing for possibly detrimental impacts from Hurricane Ian late this week.
Ian, expected to make landfall in Florida Wednesday, was upgraded from a tropical storm to a Category 1 hurricane early Monday morning.
A state of emergency has been declared in Florida ahead of Ian’s landfall. Flooding is likely along the Florida Keys and along rivers in northern Florida.
Florida residents were getting ready Monday, lining up for hours in Tampa to collect bags of sand and clearing store shelves of bottled water.
WRAL meteorologists are watching closely what happens after the storm makes landfall in Florida. That will determine what sort of impacts North Carolina will have.
Models show Ian staying inland Georgia and South Carolina before fizzling out in the N.C. mountains.
By the time the system reaches N.C., it will have significantly weakened. We likely will only see remnants of Ian later this week, as early as Thursday night or Friday, with up to 4 inches of rain possible by Sunday. The exact timing of the rainfall’s arrival is unclear.
Central and eastern is expected to see several inches of rainfall, flooding, and some isolated tornados from Ian’s remnants once the storm breaks apart and moves north.
NC prepares for Ian’s impacts
Sunday night, hardware stores across the Triangle were fully stocked ahead of Hurricane Ian. Some of the most popular items that go quickly when any storms threaten include batteries, flashlights and extension cords.
If you’re thinking about grabbing some of those items, store managers, including those at Burke Brothers Hardware in Raleigh, said it isn’t too early.
Another area of concern with any possible weather event is power outages.
Duke Energy said that before it sends crews to help Florida, is has to make sure there are enoug
h crews to help North Carolina in case the situation worsens. Duke Energy said it expects to have a better idea of storm impacts in North Carolina over the next few days.
Meanwhile, the Red Cross is often among the first to respond after storms roll through an area.
“We have two concerns: supporting our team on tour in the north Florida gulf coast area where the storm may indeed impact. So we prepare and send some qualified individuals there,” said Barry Porter with the American Red Cross, Eastern NC Region. “At the same time, we’re doing hold-downs and evaluating where our own people are so if something does happen in the Carolinas we can also respond.”
Porter said the most important thing is to find and seek safe shelter, have a supply kit ready to go and to be weather weary after the event.