Story at a glance
- Tropical Storm Isaias made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane in the Carolinas, prompting evacuations and fatalities.
- Multiple states are issuing weather warnings for tornadoes.
Tropical Storm Isaias, formerly Hurricane Isaias, may have barely missed Florida, but is posing new threats to the Eastern Seaboard as it moves up along the coast.
Weather.com reports that Isaias made landfall late Monday in North and South Carolina, knocking out power and bringing deadly tornadoes as it approaches Virginia and Maryland.
Despite Isaias’s return to a tropical storm after it was classified as a hurricane, it reached the North-South Carolina border as a Category 1 hurricane, showcasing wind speeds up to 85 miles per hour. The heavy rainfall and strong winds resulted in one person reported dead, three missing and at least 20 injured by Tuesday after the storm formed a tornado that devastated a mobile home park in Windsor, N.C.
Sheriff John Hadley of Bertie County spoke to a local outlet, saying it is one of the worst natural disaster scenes he has witnessed in more than three decades with the law enforcement department.
“It’s bad,” he told reporters. “It doesn’t look real, it looks like something on TV. Nothing is there.”
About 10 homes were destroyed, and first responders are currently searching the area for people reported missing.
Simultaneously, Isaias left approximately 780,000 residents without power, primarily in Virginia and North Carolina. Two tornadoes were reported off of the Eastern Maryland shore, blasting the Mid-Atlantic states with heavy rainfall and threats of flooding. Cities like D.C. and Baltimore are at risk for floods, as well as other areas along the Capitol Beltway and I-95 corridor.
With the storm continuing its northward journey, weather warnings have been issued as far as Maine, and New York City is currently under a tornado watch.
City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) said there was a “threat of tornadoes” for the major city Tuesday, USA Today reports. The metropolitan area is under a tornado watch until 4 p.m. EST. Additionally, New York City is also watching for flash floods and seeing high winds from the storm. Beaches are shut down until Wednesday.
Neighboring New Jersey has also issued a state of emergency, watching for tornadoes and flash flooding.
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