Tropical Storm Isaias hammered the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast yesterday after making landfall as a Category 1 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph, in southern North Carolina Monday evening.
At least two people were killed after a tornado touched down in Bertie County, N.C., and two others were killed by falling trees, according to The New York Times.
A wind gust to 99 mph was clocked at an elevated weather station at Federal Point, N.C., according to a report at weather.com.
There was significant storm-surge flooding at Oak Island, just east of where Isaias made landfall, and the Cape Fear River at Wilmington swelled to a record-high level, according to published reports.
Isaias damaged boats and docks at Southport Marina and South Harbor Village Marina, both of which are in Southport, N.C., according to a report by NBC affiliate WRAL.
“It’s going to be pretty substantial, if not catastrophic [damage] for most of these boat owners,” said Chris Hildreth, who lives in the area.
Isaias was the ninth named tropical cyclone this year. The ninth named system during the Atlantic hurricane season usually occurs in early October, so this year’s pace is more than two months ahead of the average.
In fact, Isaias was the record-earliest ninth named Atlantic tropical cyclone on record. The previous was Irene, on Aug. 7, 2005.
The 2020 hurricane season is on pace to set a named-storm record, according to published reports.
