General Weather/Earth Sciences Topics > Tropical Weather

Ernesto

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anvana:
Tropical Storm Ernesto is history. At least for the Topsail Island, NC Area. By the looks of things today, we came out of it in pretty good shape.

There were no reports of any major damage in the immediate area. Minor flooding from the nearly 12 inches of rain was still visible along roadways early this morning, but most of the water had drained by lunch time.

Along the roads leading to Topsail Island (Surf City), one could easily see a few downed trees. Yards contained lots of vegetative debris in the form of small branches, pine cones, and leaves. A shingle or two, obviously from a nearby roof, could be seen in the mix. The new Lowe’s store at US 17/SR 210 intersection lost a few of the outside storage buildings used for display.

Along the route that I took, I noticed no major damage to any homes or businesses.

Ernesto came ashore near Southport, NC at about 11:30PM local time, but didn’t make it to the Topsail area until about 1:45AM this morning. You could tell when the center of the storm was traveling by the dip in barometric pressure. The lowest pressure recorded as Ernesto passed by was 29.220 inches.

The strongest wind gusts in the area were reported from Johnnie Mercer’s Pier at Wrightsville Beach, NC at 74MPH. The highest wind speed recorded here was 47MPH about 2:10am.

Electric power failed in most areas at one time or another during the storm. The power was off here at the station for about 30 minutes during the height of the storm early this morning. Other areas were affected to different degrees with one report coming from Sneads Ferry, NC of a power outage that lasted for several hours.

I haven’t been to the beach as of yet, but I did receive a report of moderate erosion along some stretches of beach. All those I spoke with indicated the presence of a good amount of seaweed and other vegetation that washed up on shore. I also heard that the shell and shark teeth hunting was very good today.

I heard of one rescue by the fire department last night. Windows had been blown out of a home occupied by a family vacationing in Surf City. The FD took the poor folks back to the station to spend the night so they could rest in comfort.

Local hardware stores reported sales of leaf rakes, blowers, tarps, and lawn-size trash bags. A few mentioned that small amounts of roof shingles and various gutter parts were also selling. The sales of these items are a good indicator of the kind of damage Ernesto did to local property owners.

Standing by for next next one......

ocala:
Glad to hear you came out OK. Sure could have used some of that rain down here though.
Not out of the woods yet.

mhweather:
Ernesto looks done here in So. NJ.  2" of rain and lots of wind, I got a 30mph gust but I suspect that it was higher because my annie is not ideally mounted.  To sum it up - a typical 'noreaster type storm.

Mark / Ohio:
Glad you guys came through OK.  I monitored your websites until 1:00 am or so EDT early Friday morning.

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