Tropical Storm — Eastern Dare, North Carolina

2016-09-02 to 2016-09-03 · Eastern Dare, North Carolina

Event narrative

Tropical Storm Hermine produced significant impacts across Outer Banks Dare county. Strong north winds developed during the morning and early afternoon of September 3rd as Hermine moved northeast of the region. Winds of 60 to 70 mph were common over Hatteras Island with a peak gust of 84 mph recorded at the Duck Pier at 947 am est on September 3rd. These strong winds led to structural damage to several homes and businesses. These strong winds also pushed water from the Pamlico sound onshore leading to moderate to major sound-side storm surge of 2 to 4 feet above ground level. This storm surge flooded many homes and businesses with significant damage to some. The highest surge values of 3 to 4 feet were observed between Buxton and Hatteras Village. On the ocean side moderate beach erosion and ocean over wash was observed damaging roads and a few homes. Very heavy rain led to some flash flooding over the Hatteras Village area and an EF0 tornado also damaged a couple cabins in the Hatteras Village community. Overall damage was estimated at 5.4 million dollars over Outer Banks Dare county with most of this caused by storm surge flooding.

Wider weather episode

Hurricane Hermine made landfall in the Big Bend area of Florida during the early morning hours on September 2nd, and moved northeast along the Southeastern United States states on the 2nd. Hermine weakened slightly to Tropical Storm strength and crossed through Eastern North Carolina during the late evening on September 2nd, and exited off the North Carolina coast near Duck during the morning of September 3rd. The lowest pressure of 994.3 mb was measured on 03/0629 UTC at a mesonet site located at Fort Macon in Carteret county. Highest official winds were measured at the Duck tide gauge DUKN7 where sustained speeds of 71 mph with gusts to 84 mph occurred between 1447 and 1454 UTC on the 3rd. These strong winds led to sporadic power outages across eastern North Carolina. Official Storm surge flooding of 2 to 4 feet above ground level occurred along much of the coast. The highest surge of 3 to 4 feet was observed on the sound side of the Outer Banks on the morning of the 3rd as strong north winds developed on the backside of Hermine as it passed offshore. Preliminary damage from storm surge was estimated at 5.5 million dollars with the vast majority of this occurring across Outer Banks Dare County. Rain-bands associated with Hermine produced two EF1 tornadoes and one EF0 tornado that led to around 30 thousand in property damage. Bands of heavy rain associated with Hermine produced rainfall totals of 4 to 8 inches over most of the region, with the highest amounts near the coast. This heavy rain produced widespread poor drainage flooding with a few reports of flash flooding.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 657629. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.