Tropical Storm — Beaufort, North Carolina

1999-09-01 to 1999-09-05 · Beaufort, North Carolina

Wider weather episode

On the evening of Tuesday, August 31st old Hurricane Dennis was downgraded to a Tropical Storm. By 0500 EDT Wednesday, September 1st Tropical Storm Dennis was located about 120 miles east of Cape Hatteras. The movement was nearly stationary with maximum sustained winds near 60 mph. By 1700 EDT Thursday, September 2nd the storm began moving slowly south with a position near 95 miles east southeast of Cape Hatteras. This trend continued until 1700 EDT Friday, September 3rd. Tropical Storm Dennis finally begin drifting, slowly west northwest. Landfall occurred on Saturday, September 4th around 1700 along the Core Banks just north of Cape Lookout. The storm then continued very slowly through eastern North Carolina. For almost a week after Tropical Storm Dennis made landfall, associated rain fell on our inland counties. This allowed most of the rivers to rise above flood stage which set the stage for the next hurricane, Hurricane Floyd and its associated record flooding.For almost two weeks the Dennis battered the Outer Banks during one of our highest astronomical tide periods. In turn, beach erosion was extremely severe. The dune structure on Hatteras Island was breeched in numerous locations. That included the loss of a 3000 thousand foot long section of Highway 12 just north of Buxton and a new inlet along the Core Banks. Dennis also swallowed six homes along the northern Outer Banks in Rodanthe. The town of Nags Head estimated their dune loss at $16.5 million. Although total damage estimates have been included in this summary please reference August storm data statistics for specific Hurricane Dennis damages. The rest of this summary will focus only on Tropical Storm Dennis, September 4th. Ocean storm surges were 2 to 3 feet above normal. Along the Neuse and Pamlico Rivers...storm tides were about 6 to 8 feet above normal. Isolated areas estimated 8 to 10 feet above normal...especially in the Wichards Beach area. Beaufort and Craven County officials reported that several homes were inundated with water for the first time ever. Pamlico County believes this was there worst flooding in more than 65 years..especially in such areas as Lowland...Hobucken...Florence... Hortensville...Mesic...Stonewall...Pamlico...and Oriental. As with Hurricane Dennis eastern Carteret and Ocracoke Island displayed the heaviest rainfall estimates on the Doppler Radar. 2 to 5 inches of rainfall were estimated with isolated areas up to 8 inches. No fatalities were reported and no tornado or flash flood watches were issued during Tropical Storm Dennis. A tornado watch was issued on the 4th and a Flash Flood Watch and Special Marine Warning were issued on the 6th.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5717319. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.