Bonnie lands, drenches Carolinas
TROPICAL Depression Bonnie reached the South Carolina coast in the United States early yesterday, bringing heavy rain and rough tides to an area packed with tourists for the Memorial Day weekend.
The National Hurricane Center said the center of the storm made landfall just east of Charleston, South Carolina, on the Isle of Palms at 8:30am.
Forecasters say up to 8 inches (20 centimeters) of rain have fallen in parts of southern South Carolina. A flash flood warning was issued for Jasper County, where the southbound lanes of busy Interstate 95 were closed because of high water. About 3 inches of rain fell in Charleston in 24 hours and more is expected, according to the National Weather Service.
Rescue crews in Carolina Beach south of Wilmington, North Carolina, are looking for a 21-year-old man who disappeared on Saturday evening while swimming with two friends who made it back to shore safely, according to the Carolina Beach Police Department.
Further north, up to 3 inches was expected across southeastern North Carolina.
But for the most part, the rain was just an unwelcome visitor over the long holiday weekend.
Caretta Coffee Co is a short walk from the beach on Hilton Head Island. Owner Connie Inggs said business was much slower on Saturday as vacationers stayed in. But it picked up yesterday as they looked for something to do, even as the rain continued. “It’s a very tropical morning,” Inggs said. “Why not sit back and wait for the weather to get better?”
Usually the beaches at Hilton Head Island are packed with people as Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer. But lifeguards were looking out over mostly empty sand as the rain fell, said Shore Beach Service Operations Manager Mike Wagner. “They are keeping an eye on things. As soon as it stops raining for a minute, we’ll have people back out there.”
No evacuations have been ordered.
Forecasters said an isolated tornado or two will be possible early yesterday over the immediate coastal region from central South Carolina through southern North Carolina.
Near Myrtle Beach, authorities said they were worried mostly about heavy rain causing dangerous driving conditions as thousands of bikers and their motorcycles make their annual trip to the area.
The first Atlantic storm of 2016 was Hurricane Alex, which made an unseasonable debut in January over the far eastern Atlantic. The storm was the first hurricane to form in the Atlantic in January since 1938 and made landfall in the Azores on January 15.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
- RSS
- |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证:沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证:31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证:0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证:沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证:沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.