An outer band of Hurricane Dorian has become a tornado maker over the Carolinas.
In Wilmington, North Carolina, several tornado warnings popped up over the area Thursday morning.
“Radar shows nasty mini-supercells in the outer band of #Hurricane #Dorian with tornado warnings all over the place – please take quick action if you get a warning as these storms mean business!” said National Hurricane Center specialist Eric Blake on his personal Twitter account.
[Also read: Day 4: Trump still hasn’t let go of outdated Dorian warning for Alabama]
Radar shows nasty mini-supercells in the outer band of #Hurricane #Dorian with tornado warnings all over the place – please take quick action if you get a warning as these storms mean business! ? pic.twitter.com/VjAfQcYzFf
— Eric Blake ? (@EricBlake12) September 5, 2019
Soon there were reports of multiple tornadoes in the area touching down.
HAPPENING NOW: Hurricane #Dorian is still about 70 miles off the coast of South Carolina… But multiple tornadoes have already reportedly touched down around Myrtle Beach and Wilmington, NC.
We’re tracking the latest on this and what you can expect at home now on @WTVA9News. pic.twitter.com/4e4nJ05Di8
— Joel Young, CBM (@JoelYoungTV) September 5, 2019
The National Weather Service station in Wilmington shared a video of what it said was a tornado.
Video of a tornado passing near Pender County Fire Station 18 along Highway 17 near Sidbury Rd. Video courtesty of Station 18. Time was around 6:55-7:00 AM EDT Thursday Sept 5, 2019 pic.twitter.com/RRFhZuL47l
— NWS Wilmington NC (@NWSWilmingtonNC) September 5, 2019
All this was happening even as the center of Dorian was roughly 70 miles south-southeast of Charleston, South Carolina, and roughly 160 miles south-southwest of the city of Wilmington as of 8 a.m.
A waterspout off Emerald Isle. This was around 9 AM, Bogue Inlet Pier courtesy @surfline #dorian Please seen an interior room if you are under a Tornado WARNING along the Crystal Coast! pic.twitter.com/Fw0RRrw6ZJ
— NWS Newport/Morehead (@NWSMoreheadCity) September 5, 2019
Nearly 200,000 power outages have been reported across South Carolina and there have been reports of flooding in the streets of Charleston.
Dorian regained some strength Wednesday and returned to Category 3 status late in the day. Landfall somewhere over the Carolinas remains a possibility this week as the storm heads north and hugs the East Coast.
Heavy rain, strong winds, and dangerous storm surge remain possibilities in the forecast not just on the coast from Florida to southern Virginia, where states of emergency have been declared and mandatory evacuations have been issued, but also in some areas farther inland.
