Here comes the sun - and Irene, good riddance!

By: NBC17 Staff | MyNC
Published: August 27, 2011
Updated: August 28, 2011 - 12:46 AM

RALEIGH, N.C. --

From Kill Devil Hills to the state Capitol, North Carolinians awoke to wet grounds, downed tree limbs and a welcome sight – the sun.

Hurricane Irene, that wrecker of weekend plans, staggered northward as a tropical storm and shared its misery with New York and New England Sunday.

North Carolinians, meanwhile, began to sort through the mess, but at least did so under sunny skies. Temperatures in Raleigh rose into the 90s Sunday, with low humidity and a gentle breeze of 5 degrees.

Atlantic Beach re-opened at 10 a.m. for people with passes as life began to resume normal rhythms.

Still, there are repercutions. East Carolina University, Edgecombe County schools and Wayne County schools all will be closed on Monday.

The Tar River at Tarboro is expected to be above flood stage Monday, but otherwise, the chance of flooding appears minimal. The National Weather Service announced at 8:19 p.m. Saturday that the threat of heavy rain has ended and the threat of flooding has diminished. A flash flood watch for the region was cancelled, including the counties of Nash and Edgecombe.

Irene slammed into North Carolina's coast near Cape Lookout around 8 a.m. Saturday with howling winds and drenching rains amid reports of flooding and hundreds of thousands of people without power.

The enormous storm showered the East Coast with rain and had officials all the way to the Northeast scrambling to prepare for its approach. Even parts of Canada had issued a Tropical Storm Warning.

Irene dropped as much as 5 to 9 inches of rain along the I-95 corridor, leading to numerous flood warnings. Winds were strong throughout the day across central North Carolina too. Numerous tropical storm force winds (above 39 mph) were reported across central North Carolina.

Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Wayne County had a gust of 62 mph, The Rocky Mount - Wilson Airport reported a gust of 63 mph. The Fayetteville Regional Airport received a gust of 49 mph and the Sampson County Airport reported a gust of 43 mph. The Raleigh-Durham International Airport's highest gust was 39 mph.

Irene claimed its first victim Friday night when a 22-year-old surfer drowned after being caught in a rip current off the coast in Virginia Beach, Va. And Saturday morning, a Nash County man died after a limb fell and hit him. A Goldsboro girl and a Pitt County man were killed in separate car accidents and an Onslow man died of a heart attack while preparing.

Just after 10 p.m. Friday night a tornado touched down in Belhaven in Beaufort County. The tornado did structural damage to multiple trailers and ripped the roof off of a car dealership.

A second tornado was reported early Saturday morning in Tyrrell County near Columbia. Structural damage was done to buildings and some injuries reported.

The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale is a 1 to 5 categorization based on the hurricane's intensity at the indicated time. The scale has been an excellent tool for alerting residents about the possible impacts of various intensity hurricanes. Here are the parameters:

Category 1 Hurricane: Sustained winds 74-95 mph.
Category 2 Hurricane: Sustained winds 96-110 mph.
Category 3 Hurricane: Sustained winds 111-130 mph.
Category 4 Hurricane: Sustained winds 131-155 mph.
Category 5 Hurricane: Sustained winds greater than 155 mph.

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