Raleigh North Carolina News

More forecasters and researchers believe the 2021 hurricane season will be above average, according to predictions released Thursday by Dr. Phil Klotzbach from Colorado State University. Klotzbach, a hurricane expert, presented his team’s findings at the National Tropical Weather Conference. The team at Colorado State expects 17 named storms and 8 hurricanes, with four of those predicted to be major storms. Klotzbach said probabilities show at least one major hurricane will make landfall on each…

By Amanda Lamb, WRAL reporter Cary, N.C. — A Cary woman was glad rain was all they had to deal with while visiting her daughter in Nashville, Tennessee last month. While thousands of people across the deep south were dealing with damage left behind from devastating tornadoes, she felt relieved to be in Nashville. But on the night of March 27, water from those rains began to rise, forcing Lois Peterson, her pregnant daughter and…

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Landslides and flash floods from torrential rains in eastern Indonesia killed at least 41 people and displaced thousands, the country’s disaster relief agency said Sunday. More than two dozen others were still missing. Mud tumbled down from surrounding hills onto dozens of homes in Lamenele village shortly after midnight on Adonara island in East Nusa Tenggara province. Rescuers recovered 35 bodies and at least five injured, said Lenny Ola, who heads the…

By REBECCA SANTANA, Associated Press NEW ORLEANS — Hurricane Delta, which made landfall about 11 miles (about 18 kilometers) from where the devastating Hurricane Laura hit a little more than a month earlier, cost $2.9 billion in the United States and was linked to six deaths in the U.S. and Mexico, according to a report from the National Hurricane Center. The report released Tuesday details the hurricane’s origins, trajectory and things such as wind speed…

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — Severe weather is possible in central North Carolina today. Those storms are more likely in the southern part of the region. The National Weather Service has the Sandhills in a level 2 risk for severe weather, with the rest of the region being under a level 1 risk. While you were sleeping, the @NWSSPC upgraded the Sandhills to a Cat 2 of 5 risk for severe weather. Biggest threat=damaging wind. Could…

By WRAL Severe Weather Center Much of the viewing area is under a Level 1 risk for severe weather Wednesday afternoon, and the Sandhills were upgraded to a Level 2 risk overnight. According to WRAL meteorologist Elizabeth Gardner, rain will become heavier in the Triangle by 4 p.m. ahead of a line of thunderstorms. The severe weather is expected to be strongest between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. Storms will be worst in southern Wake County…

By WRAL Severe Weather Center Our gorgeous weather today turns sour as the next cold front moves through the area Wednesday night. “It appears March could go out like a Lion with a Level 1 risk for severe storms,” meteorologist Mike Maze said. Maze says that as of now, it appears the timeline for severe would be from 3 p.m. through 9 p.m. Wednesday. “The main threats are damaging wind gusts and hail and then perhaps…

NEMO, S.D. — Three separate wildfires in the Black Hills of South Dakota have forced evacuations of more than 400 homes northwest of Rapid City and shut down Mount Rushmore, authorities said Monday. A fire that started near Schroeder Road in the Nemo area, about 15 miles northwest of Rapid City, had burned as much as 1 1/2 square miles and was “still moving” on Monday afternoon, according to the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office. Several…

NEMO, S.D. — Three separate wildfires in the Black Hills of South Dakota have forced evacuations of more than 400 homes northwest of Rapid City and shut down Mount Rushmore, authorities said Monday. A fire that started near Schroeder Road in the Nemo area, about 15 miles northwest of Rapid City, had burned as much as 1 1/2 square miles and was “still moving” on Monday afternoon, according to the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office. Several…

ASHLAND CITY, Tenn. — Flash flooding in Tennessee has claimed a fifth victim after authorities said a man drove his car around barricades and apparently drowned. The latest death occurred Sunday night in Ashland City, just west of Nashville, when the man in his 60s ignored a sign warning of flooding and went into high water, Cheatham County Emergency Management Director Edwin Hogan told news outlets. The man’s name was not immediately released. Four others…

By Sydney Franklin, WRAL multiplatform producer Ocean Isle Beach, N.C. — The North Carolina Department of Transportation and a state contract company have picked up 4,945 tons of debris from a EF-3 tornado that hit Brunswick County in February. The tornado killed three people and damaged much of the Ocean Ridge Plantation neighborhood. About 3,500 tons of debris was picked up in the neighborhood alone.  In a statement, the NCDOT said the amount of debris…

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — Showers and storms will once again be present this afternoon and evening and some of those storms will be strong, even reaching severe limits. We are in level 2 out of 5 risk of severe weather today. Damaging wind gusts, hail and brief downpours will be the main threats; however, there is a chance for a few isolated tornadoes as well. Meanwhile, there is a level 3/5 risk of severe weather…

By JOHN RABY and SARAH RANKIN, Associated Press Torrential rains across Tennessee flooded homes and at least one church and left roads impassable, prompting dozens of people to be rescued in the Nashville area. Authorities said four bodies were found Sunday in the flood’s aftermath. Nashville received more than 7 inches of rain, the second-highest two-day rainfall total ever recorded, Mayor John Cooper said at a news conference Sunday. Ebony Northern said a normally tame…

The threat for severe weather in central North Carolina continues into Sunday after a strong and quick-moving storm triggered multiple Tornado Warnings in eight counties on Saturday. For most of Sunday, North Carolina will be placed under a Level 2 out of 5 risk of severe weather, with some counties near the eastern North Carolina-Virginia borderline reaching up to a Level 3. Timing for the storms is still fluid due to the current weather models….