United States: Tropical Storm Ophelia hits North Carolina and forms Philippe

O tropical storm Ophelia made landfall this Saturday near Emerald Isle, North Carolina (Image: Getty Images)USA), where there are still heavy rains and winds, and thousands of homes remain without electricity, while Storm Philippe formed in the southeast of the Atlantic basin.

READ MORE | Post-Tropical Cyclone Lee Leaves Over 90,000 People Without Electricity in Maine

Ophelia, which arrived at Emerald Isle at about 6:15 a.m. local time (10:15 a.m. GMT) with winds of 70 miles per hour, entered southeastern Virginia this afternoon, although weakened, and is moving north at 12 miles. per hour (19 km). /H).

The storm has maximum sustained winds of 65 kilometers per hour and is expected to continue to weaken between today and Sunday as it moves north of the east coast of the United States and until it degrades into a post-tropical cyclone in the coming years. 24 hours, according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC).

However, the storm is still dropping heavy rain across a wide swath of East Coast states, including Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey and New York.

According to specialized website PowerOutage, about twelve hours after making landfall, more than 26,000 homes and businesses in North Carolina and Virginia were still without electricity due to Ophelia, which initially left about 70,000 subscribers in the dark. .

The threat of rain also caused two Major League Baseball games scheduled for Saturday to be postponed.

Local media outlets and videos posted on social media today show flooded roads in North Carolina coastal cities that experienced flooding due to the storm.

The bad weather conditions began to be felt on Friday night in that state, where five people, including three minors, who were on board a boat anchored in Cape Lookout had to be rescued, according to the Coast Guard.

As Ophelia advances along the central Atlantic coast of the United States, Tropical Depression 17, formed today, transformed this afternoon into Tropical Storm Philippe, which is located 1,680 kilometers west of the African islands of Cape Verde.

Philippe carries sustained winds of 65 kilometers per hour and a gradual weakening is expected over the next few days, according to the NHC.

Located in the southeast of the Atlantic basin, the storm did not warrant issuing warnings in coastal areas and is moving west at 22 kilometers per hour.

In an update released on August 10, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted an “above normal” Atlantic hurricane season, with the formation of between 14 and 21 tropical storms, of which between 6 and 11 would be hurricanes.

In the current season, which ends on November 30, 6 hurricanes were formed, and one of them, Lee, reached category 5, the maximum on the Saffir-Simpson intensity scale.

Source: Elcomercio

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I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.