Dorian Sideways Rain Killed 4 in Carolina

Hurricane Dorian sideswiped the Carolinas with shrieking winds, tornadoes and sideways rain Thursday as it closed in for a possible direct hit on the dangerously exposed Outer Banks. At least four deaths in the Southeast were blamed on the storm.

Twisters spun off by Dorian peeled away roofs and flipped trailers, and more than 250,000 homes and businesses were left without power as the hurricane pushed north along the coastline, its winds weakening to 105 mph (165 kph) by evening.
Trees and power lines littered flooded streets in Charleston’s historic downtown.
Gusts topping 80 mph hit some areas.

The damage from the same storm that mauled the Bahamas was mercifully light in many parts of South Carolina and Georgia as well, and by midafternoon many of the 1.5 million people who had been forced to evacuate in three states were allowed to return.

This photo shows the destruction from Hurricane Dorian at Marsh Harbour in Great Abaco Island, the Bahamas, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2019. (Al Diaz/Miami Herald via AP)

Still, forecasters warned that Dorian could run straight over North Carolina’s Outer Banks the thin line of islands that stick out from the U.S. coast like a boxer’s chin late Thursday or early Friday. To the north, Virginia was also in harm’s way, and a round of evacuations was ordered there.

“We have a long night ahead of us.
Everyone needs to stay in a safe place and off the roads until the storm passes,” said North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper.

After leaving at least 20 people dead when it slammed the Bahamas with 185 mph (295 kph) winds, Dorian swept past Florida at a relatively safe distance, grazed Georgia, and then hugged the South Carolina-North Carolina coastline.

FILE – In this file image made from Sept. 21, 2018 drone video provided by N.C. Department of Environmental Quality, light gray material flows out of a flooded coal ash dump toward the Cape Fear River at Duke Energy’s L.V. Sutton Power Station near Wilmington, N.C. Duke Energy said Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2019, that it had completed extensive repairs to the dam that breached during Florence at the L.V. Sutton Power Station. (N.C. Department of Environmental Quality via AP, File)

“I think we’re in for a great big mess,” said 61-year-old Leslie Lanier, who decided to stay behind and boarded up her home and bookstore on Ocracoke Island on the Outer Banks, making sure to move the volumes 5 to 6 feet off the ground.

The National Hurricane Center forecast as much as 15 inches of rain for the coastal Carolinas, with flash-flooding likely.

In Charleston, a historic port city of handsome antebellum homes on a peninsula that is prone to flooding even from ordinary storms, Dorian toppled some 150 trees, swamped roads and brought down power lines, officials said, but the flooding and wind weren’t nearly as bad as feared.

A customer walks out of The Tidal Market III convenience store in Wilmington, N.C, on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019. Hurricane Dorian was expected to brush just off the coast of the area (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

Walking along with Charleston’s stone battery, college student Zachary Johnson sounded almost disappointed that Dorian hadn’t done more.

“I mean, it’d be terrible if it did, don’t get me wrong.
I don’t know I’m just waiting for something crazy to happen, I guess,” said Johnson, 24.

Dorian apparently spawned at least one tornado in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, damaging several homes, and another twister touched down in the beach town of Emerald Isle, North Carolina, mangling and overturning several trailer homes in a jumble of sheet metal.
No immediate injuries were reported.

Homes flattened by Hurricane Dorian are seen in Abaco, Bahamas, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019. The storm’s devastation has come into sharper focus as the death toll climbed to 20 and many people emerged from shelters to check on their homes. (AP Photo/Gonzalo Gaudenzi)

In coastal Wilmington, North Carolina, just above the South Carolina line, heavy rain fell horizontally, trees bent in the wind and traffic lights swayed as the hurricane drew near.

The four deaths attributed to the storm took place in Florida and North Carolina.
All of them involved men who died in falls or by electrocution while trimming trees, putting up storm shutters or otherwise getting ready for the hurricane.

At 5 p.m. EDT, Dorian was centered about 45 miles (75 kilometers) southeast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, moving at 10 mph (17 kph).
Hurricane-force winds extend about 60 miles (95 kilometers) from its center.

Anne Patterson takes photos of waves crashing on the shore in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019, as Hurricane Dorian moves north off the coast. (Ken Ruinard/The Independent-Mail via AP)

As it closed in on the Eastern Seaboard, Navy ships were ordered to ride out the storm at sea, and military aircraft were moved inland.
More than 700 airline flights scheduled for Thursday and Friday were canceled.
And hundreds of shelter animals were airlifted from coastal South Carolina to Delaware.

Tybee Island, Georgia, population 3,000 people, came through the storm without flooding.
“If the worst that comes out of this is people blame others for calling evacuations, then that’s wonderful,” Mayor Jason Buelterman said.

By midday Thursday, coastal residents in Georgia and some South Carolina counties were allowed to go back home.

Mobile homes are upended and debris is strewn about at the Holiday Trav-l Park, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019, in Emerald Isle, N.C, after a possible tornado generated by Hurricane Dorian struck the area. (Julia Wall/The News & Observer via AP)

Still, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster warned of new dangers ahead.

“Don’t be surprised if there was water in your home, you might have animals, snakes.
You don’t know what might be in there, so be very careful as you return,” he said.

___

Associated Press reporters Russ Bynum in Tybee Island, Georgia; Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina; Jeffrey Collins in Carolina Beach, North Carolina; Jay Reeves in Birmingham, Alabama; Ben Finley in Norfolk, Virginia; Jeff Martin in Atlanta; Seth Borenstein in Washington; and David Koenig in Dallas contributed to this report.

CORRECTS YEAR TO 2019-Emerald Isle town employees work to clear the road after a tornado hit Emerald Isle N.C. as Hurricane Dorian moved up the East Coast on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019. (AP Photo/Tom Copeland)

___

For more of AP’s coverage of Hurricane Dorian, go to https://apnews.com/Hurricanes