Hurricane (Typhoon) — Beaufort, North Carolina

1999-10-16 to 1999-10-18 · Beaufort, North Carolina

Wider weather episode

At 1000 EST on Wednesday, October 13th the ninth tropical storm of the season was named. Tropical Storm Irene was positioned about 330 miles south-southwest of Havana, Cuba. The storm was moving north-northwest near 8 mph with maximum sustained winds of 40 mph. By 0400 EST the next day Irene was upgraded to a hurricane. On October 15th she crossed the Florida Keys and continued to bear down on the southwest Florida coast. As she crossed the southern Florida Peninsula, winds slightly weakened. Saturday morning Hurricane Irene moved offshore over the warm Atlantic Gulf Stream water. At the same time, the hurricane watches were extended north to include Cape Hatteras south. Irene was undoubtedly going to threaten the Carolinas. By Saturday afternoon the watch was upgraded to a warning with tropical storm warnings for north of Cape Hatteras.Fortunately, the category 1 hurricane paralleled the coast of eastern North Carolina. Since the eye remained offshore so did the hurricane force winds. In turn, storm surges were insignificant. Very minor beach erosion was experienced along the beaches in Onslow County and along Bogue Banks in Carteret County. The highest offshore wind was 67 mph...observed at Diamond Shoals C-Man platform. The peak inland wind reported was 47 mph at Cape Hatteras/Frisco. One F0 tornado was reported in Onslow County near the intersection of Highway 24 and Highway 17...causing only minor damage.Rainfall again played the largest role during the event. The greatest rainfall estimates from the Doppler radar were over Craven...Pitt...Beaufort...Martin...Dare...and Hyde counties. Estimates were from 4 to 6 inches with isolated areas receiving 8 to 10 inches. A spotter reported 11 inches in Ernul/Craven County on the 17th and 18th. This excessive rainfall caused many road closures and some areas in Lenoir County reported a foot of water on secondary roads. No significant damage was reported from Hurricane Irene. One fatality was reported in western Beaufort County. A male was driving an automobile on Highway 264 when the vehicle hydroplaned. Craven and Lenoir Counties were obviously the most affected. River levels remained above flood stage on the Neuse River since before Hurricane Floyd. Additionally, major flooding occurred along the Swift Creek near Vanceboro back to levels similar to but not as bad as Hurricane Floyd.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5717653. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.