Hampton Roads, Va. – One year ago this week, people across Hampton Roads and NE North Carolina were bracing for an early season hurricane.
Hurricane Arthur made landfall over Shackleford Banks, NC, around 11:15 p.m. on July 3, 2014. Shackleford Banks is located between Cape Lookout and Beaufort.
According to the National Weather Service, Arthur is the earliest hurricane to hit North Carolina in a season since records began in 1851. The previous record was July 11, 1901. It is also the first hurricane to make landfall on the U.S. mainland since Hurricane Isaac on August 28-29, 2012, and the first Category 2 hurricane in the U.S. since Ike in 2008.
As Arthur strengthened into a Category 2 hurricane, the storm produced highs winds and flooding. The storm caused widespread power outages across coastal North Carolina. And portions of NC-12 and Highway 64 in Dare County were closed due to flooding from storm surge.
The storm also produced two tornadoes in North Carolina and two in Virginia. In fact, two EF-0 tornadoes briefly touched the ground in the cities of Virginia Beach and Norfolk, snapping and uprooting several trees.
Fortunately, Arthur produced no casualties as it moved northeast and weakened.
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