Tropical Storm Florence to Bring Rain, Wind Tonight, Tomorrow

From Fox21 Reports

Hurricane Florence made landfall near Wrightsville Beach, NC as of 7:15 AM Friday morning with winds of 90 mph.

Tropical Storm Florence has weakened further, now packing 65 mph winds near the center as it gets close to Myrtle Beach. The storm is moving slowly at only 5 mph, but will pick up speed into this weekend.

A wind advisory is in effect for both the Upstate and mountains on Saturday and Sunday with wind gusts associated with Florence. Gusts could exceed 40 miles per hour and could cause power outages for some.

A flash flood watch has been issued for most of the Upstate and WNC for Saturday morning through Tuesday morning.

Florence is expected to continue to slowly weaken as it moves west to southwest toward South Carolina later today and tonight, further weakening on Sunday to a tropical depression as it pushes toward the Upstate. By Monday, it should be moving north of the area but rain chances will linger.

Here is a breakdown of what to expect as the storm moves into the Upstate:

• Saturday: Gusty wind, especially late. 25-40 mph. Spotty t-storms, isolated severe threat. Small flood concern.

• Sunday: Widespread heavy rain, gusty wind around 30-40 mph, isolated tornado threat.

• Monday: Lingering rain/flood concerns, slightly lower wind 20-30 mph gusts. Low severe threat.

• Storm total rainfall from Sat-Monday looks like 2-5” are very likely in our area overall, but some spots (esp. in the mountains) could see up to 10”.