After raking the Outer Banks of North Carolina on Friday, Hurricane Dorian raced through the Atlantic Ocean night on a path that might take the storm across Nova Scotia on Saturday.
Forecasters with the National Hurricane Center said the Category 1 hurricane will pass southeastern New England on Friday and Saturday. The center of the storm will move across the Canadian province on Saturday night, according to the forecast.
A hurricane warning was in effect for eastern Nova Scotia. The storm was moving at northeast at 24 mph with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph.
Residents of the United States were cleaning up after the storm made landfall in Cape Hatteras, North Carolina and brushed other East Coast states on Friday.
Flooding on NC barrier islands
Floodwaters from Dorian on North Carolina’s Ocracoke Island receded Friday afternoon, easing concerns for people who were stuck much of the day in their homes.
Feet-high floodwaters had covered yards outside homes on Ocracoke early Friday, social media images showed. Jason Wells snapped photographs from his home’s upper level of the virtual lake in his yard and said the flooding “is by far the worst I have ever seen or heard about” in his 40-plus years there.
“There are people that have had knee to waist-deep water in their houses,” he told CNN Friday morning.
“Several people were rescued from their upper floors or attics by boat, or from Good Samaritans,” Wells said.
Much of the water receded by Friday afternoon and about 2 feet of water remained on the island as of 4 p.m.
Jenni Starr, who lives on Ocracoke, posted a photo to Instagram of her yard and told CNN before the water went down her house had a foot of water in it.
Rick Anderson, a photographer on the Outer Banks, said about 50 to 75 feet at the end of a pier in Kill Devils Hills had been smashed by the storm. The rest of the pier was still standing, Anderson told CNN.
Sheriff’s deputies, medics and emergency management workers were sent to the island to help people from their homes, the Hyde County Sheriff’s Office said.
More than a foot of rain fell in some places
Since Thursday, Dorian has flooded parts of the Carolinas and spawned a number oftornadoes, as well as lashed Virginia with winds and rain.
Between 10 and 15 inches of rain fell in parts of North and South Carolina this week, the National Weather Service said.
Floodwaters were surrounding Deborah Lacks’ home on Ocracoke Island Friday morning. Video that she shared to Twitter showed the water lapping up against the house and vehicles parked outside.
No injuries were immediately reported, Sprayberry said.
Earlier in the week, Dorian flattened homes and wiped out neighborhoods inthe northern Bahamas, leaving at least 43 people dead. It then closed in on the southeastern coast of the United States, where five deaths have been blamed on the storm so far.
Tornadoes struck along the coast Thursday
At least 24 tornado reports were made in South Carolina and North Carolina as the hurricane hit those states this week, especiallyon Thursday. Twisters toppled mobile homes and left debris strewn for acres.
Tornadoes are common in the thunderstorm bands of hurricanes and tropical storms.
North Carolina resident Byron Cox was in his mobile home in Emerald Isle when a tornado approached Thursday. His home was still standing, but his father’s home was destroyed, he said.
“I remember hearing a loud noise. The next thing I know, the trailer started shaking. … It shook probably 10-15 seconds, real hard,” Cox, 37, said Thursday.
“All of a sudden I didn’t feel it (any) more. I looked outside, and the tornado … (was) going through the back. … Debris flying everywhere. Never saw anything like this in my entire life.”
Tornadoes hit parts of South Carolina, where firefighters say one damaged an unspecified number of vehicles and buildings in North Myrtle Beach.
South Carolina turns to recovery
Charleston’s mayor says that efforts to recover begin Friday.
“Yes, today was Dorian Day in Charleston, and I am happy to bid him farewell,” Mayor John Tecklenburg said Thursday. “To the hundreds of officials, and the outstanding citizens of Charleston, thank you. Tomorrow, we all unite as Team Charleston to recover.”
Authorities in Charleston are working to address power outages, downed trees and flooded roadways
Click here for more Dorian coverage.
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