Mudslides, swift-water rescues and closed roads were among the impacts that Tropical Storm Michael brought to North Carolina Wednesday, hitting the western part of the state particularly hard.
“North Carolina was spared the vicious beating Michael brought to Florida and parts of Georgia, but this storm will not go down without a fight,” Gov. Roy Cooper said in a press conference Wednesday morning. “It is still a threat and should be taken seriously, particularly with storm surge, high winds, flooding and the threat of tornadoes.”
More than a dozen state roads in Watauga County have been closed because of the storm, state transportation officials said.
At least three rivers across the state are at risk of flooding, including the Haw in the eastern part of the Triad area.
Most hurricanes quickly fall apart as they move over land. Not Michael. The third-most powerful hurricane on record to hit the U.S. mainland carved a path of destruction for roughly 200 miles from the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico before its top sustained winds dropped to tropical-storm strength.
The National Hurricane Center says Michael did not lose its hurricane status until early Thursday, when its winds finally dropped below 74 mph near Browndale in central Georgia.
It's down to a tropical storm now as it moves over the Carolinas, but forecasters expect it to strengthen again once it moves over the Atlantic.
Over 900,000 homes and businesses in Florida, Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas were without power.