Tropical Storm Ophelia swamps North Carolina, threatens more flooding and destruction

Tropical Storm Ophelia made landfall early Saturday morning, blasting North Carolina with 70 mph winds, heavy rain and coastal flooding, and knocking power out for over 70,000 homes and businesses across several states.

The gale touched down near Emerald Isle, in the southern part of North Carolina’s Outer Banks, around 6:15 a.m. with massive gusts just shy of hurricane-force winds.

The stormed moved quickly inland, heading north with winds slowing to 50 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center, and was forecast to make its way northeast through Sunday.

Up to eight inches of rain and storm surges of six feet were expected in parts of North Carolina and Virginia.

Storm chasers shared footage Saturday of tumultuous waves rocking boats in New Bern, North Carolina and rushing waters inundating homes and a car in the city of Washington, which is about 30 miles from the coast on the northern banks of the Pamlico River.

Five people, including three children, were rescued by the US Coast Guard from a sailboat in Cape Lookout, North Carolina, late Friday as the storm approached. Waves were reaching 10 feet and winds gusting at 40 mph when the owner of the vessel called for help.

The tropical storm effects are stretching as far as 300 miles from the center of the large system, according to the National Weather Service, and are likely to batter trees and down power lines along its path.

As of Saturday afternoon, about 40,000 power outages were reported in North Carolina, 13,600 in Virginia, over 7,000 in Pennsylvania and 5,700 in New Jersey, according to the PowerOutage.us tracking site. About 1,500 homes and businesses on Long Island saw power knocked out as well. Down wires took out power for a handful of homes scattered across the five boroughs as well, according to Con Edison’s outage map.

Several airlines issued travel advisories, warning of potential delays along the East Coast due to the tropical storm. Delays and cancellations at John F. Kennedy, Newark Liberty, Washington’s Dulles and Charleston appear to have had a ripple effect, throwing off schedules at major hubs across the country like Chicago O’Hare, Atlanta and Denver.

Ophelia is forecast to rapidly slow to a post-tropical cyclone by Sunday as it nears Maryland, the NWS predicts, but heavy rain is possible from Pennsylvania to Long Island and even New England. Showers may linger through Sunday, but conditions will improve by Monday.

“Thankfully, Ophelia is going to weaken,” Fox Weather meteorologist Jordan Overton told The Post.

“This rain we’re seeing [in New York City] is from Ophelia, it’s the outer bands, but it’s not going to be nearly as strong as it approaches the northeast coast later today and into tomorrow,” Overton said on Saturday.

A storm surge warning was in effect from Bogue Inlet, North Carolina, to Chincoteague, Virginia. Surges between 4 and 6 feet were forecast in some areas, according to reports, and a tropical storm warning was issued from Cape Fear, North Carolina, to Fenwick Island, Delaware.

States of emergency were declared in North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland on Friday. Some schools closed early and weekend events up and down the coast were rained out.

With Post Wires.