George Trice IV, left, and his father George Trice III investigate the flooding from their canoe on Church Street in Poquoson, Va. Thursday. Relentless rain drenched much of the Atlantic seaboard Thursday, triggering coastal flood warnings and watches from North Carolina to New York’s Long Island, inundating streets and forcing some rescues of stranded drivers in hard-hit Virginia.
Richmond County appears to be one of the lucky ones.
Heavy winds and rain did manage to blow through Richmond County this week -leaving some without power Tuesday and Wednesday.
Jeff Brooks, spokesperson with Progress Energy, said Richmond County customers reported over 3,000 power outages during those two days, all of which have been restored.
Hoffman reported 620 outages, Hamlet reported close to 100 and the rest came from greater Rockingham and other rural communities.
Pee Dee Electric director of marketing and communications, Bruce Simmons, said that they only reported about 20 outages in their service area.
“Pretty much scattered outages,” Simmons said. “No large volume in one particular place.”
The majority of the power outages were produced from strong winds, sometimes breaking gale-force speeds, according to Progress Energy officials.
According to Lara Pagano, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Raleigh, the Rockingham area reported peak wind gusts in the high 30s to mid 40s.
Frank McKay, director of emergency management, said that there was no extraordinary or sustainable damages caused by the inclement weather.
“There wasn’t much damage,” McKoy said. “Don’t know of any major disruptions besides power outages.”
McKoy did say that is was a little strange to have a hurricane make landfall this late in the year, but it’s not unheard of.
Richmond County has received 3.4 inches of rain starting Tuesday on into Thursday morning with 5 inches reported in some parts of the county, according to both Pagano and McCoy, who also tracked the rainfall this week.
“Within and across central North Carolina there has been a reported 3 to 5 inches of rain and you’ll probably see an additional 1 to 2 inches before it’s all said and done,” Pagano said.
The soggy and damp weather can be attributed to the quickly dissipating tropical storm Ida which came ashore Tuesday morning from the Gulf of Mexico.
“It’s been pretty nasty out there,” Pagano said.
Several areas in North Carolina have suffered flash floods and severe water damage caused by Hurricane Ida. Heavy wind gusts managed to uproot trees and take shingles off homes in some places as well.
According to Pagano, the low pressure system near the coast should taper off late in the day Friday into early the early Saturday morning hours, although the wrap-around precipitation in northern North Carolina will stall until Saturday afternoon.
“Thankfully everything should taper off here in the next 12 to 24 hours,” Pagano said.
n Staff writer Bryan Stewart can be reached at 997-3111 ext. 15 or by e-mail at bstewart@yourdailyjournal.com.
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