Hurricane Isaias Tracking: Storm Strengthens and Turns Into Category One Hurricane, Continues To Move Towards North Carolina

RALEIGH (WTVD) – Tropical storm Isaias has been officially strengthened into a category one hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Center. The hurricane is still slated to continue to the east coast of the United States throughout North Carolina.

On Friday morning, the storm was whirling around the Turks and Caicos Islands and spewing heavy rain in the Bahamas. The National Hurricane Center said flash floods and landslides are possible in the Dominican Republic, northern Haiti, the Turks and Caicos Islands and the Bahamas.

The hurricane is currently moving northwest at 17 mph with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph and gusts of up to 100 mph. The storm is expected to graze the Florida and Georgia coast this weekend. Isaias could touch the Carolina coast on Monday and Tuesday.

At 5 a.m., the hurricane was 15 miles south-southwest of Gran Inagua Island. On Thursday, more than 400,000 customers in Puerto Rico lost power, according to ABC News. Some were caught in the floods.

While that road is still a long way off and could change dramatically, right now it looks like Isaias will at least bring rain to parts of North Carolina next week.
However, the coast is already seeing the effects of Isaias as a high-risk current comes into effect as of Friday that runs from Hatteras to Carolina Beach. The high threat will continue through the weekend as the storm continues to move north.

At midnight, the National Hurricane Center issued hurricane warnings for central and southeastern Bahamas.

Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach said Isaias is the ninth storm called Atlantic in the first place. The previous record was Irene on August 7, 2005.

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The center of Isaías is expected to move over Hispaniola on Thursday night. When tropical systems move over the mountainous region of Hispaniola, they are often difficult to predict. The path and strength of storms will likely change in the coming days.
The storm’s cone of uncertainty includes North Carolina. Current projections say the storm will hit our shores Monday through Tuesday night.

Stay with the ABC11 First Alert Weather team as they monitor this hurricane and any threats it may bring to North Carolina.

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