Tropical storm threatens to soak North Carolina

Tropical Storm Gabrielle swirled towards North Carolina today, but its promised rain and high winds were not enough to scare residents and holidaymakers away from the beach.

“When people hear about tropical storms, they assume houses are going to fall in the ocean,” said Margot Jolly, a lifeguard with Nags Heads Ocean Rescue.

“They shouldn’t overreact like that. Just relax, stay inside, and have a little hurricane party.”

Forecasters said the storm was likely to strengthen before clipping the state’s Outer Banks, a chain of barrier islands popular with tourists, tonight, British time.

Rain from the storm’s outer bands began falling in the area early today, but there were no indications Gabrielle would become a hurricane before turning north and curving back out into the Atlantic.

“It’s not going to be one that will go down in the annals of the record books,” said Michael Caropolo, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Wilmington.

Forecasters issued a tropical storm warning for the North Carolina coastline north of Surf City through the Outer Banks and to the Virginia border. A tropical storm warning was issued northwards to Cape Charles Light, Virginia, along the Atlantic Coast, and a watch remained in effect for the area extending to New Point Comfort peninsula, along the Chesapeake Bay.

The National Weather Service said the storm’s centre could make landfall near Cape Hatteras – the easternmost point on the Outer Banks – at about 8pm local time (1am BST).

Gabrielle was expected to have 45mph sustained winds by later today, peaking at about 50mph, Caropolo said. The weather service warned that storm surge flooding of up to 3ft was possible, with 1-3ins of rain falling in coastal areas and up to 5ins in isolated spots.

Officials have urged residents and visitors to remain indoors as Gabrielle blows through. The National Park Service closed all campgrounds on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

Caropolo said the storm’s greatest danger would come from rough seas, reaching 8-11ft on the ocean side of the central Outer Banks, and rip currents along the shore.

Lifeguards in Wrightsville Beach, about 150 miles south of Nags Head, rescued about a dozen people from rip currents yesterday, David Baker, ocean rescue director for the Wrightsville Beach Fire Department, told The Star-News of Wilmington. No-one was seriously injured.