170,000+ without power, flooding reported as Hurricane Isaias hits NC

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – Hurricane Isaias left hundreds of thousands without power as it made its way through North Carolina late Monday into Tuesday.

Isaias made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane on Ocean Isle Beach at 11:10 p.m., the National Weather Service said.

Around that time, several homes caught fire on Ocean Isle.

But before Isaias made it to land, the main road into Sunset Beach was flooded by storm surge, police said. Around midnight, about 105,000 customers were without power in Wilmington and areas south.

By 12:30 a.m., the number of outages jumped to more than 112,000.

The number of outages moved to more than 160,000 by 1:30 a.m.

The North Carolina Department of Public Safety reported 308,465 outages as of 3:30 a.m. and 330,132 by 4:30 a.m. By 8:15 a.m. outages had surged to nearly 370,000 – 369,978, to be exact.

By 1 p.m., more than 110,000 customers had their power restored and outages stood at 242,611. Around 3 p.m. there were 172,000 customers without power.

NCDPS combines outage data from Duke Energy, Dominion Energy, NC Electric Cooperatives and
ElectriCities.

New Hanover County had the most outages across the state with more than 92,000 at one point. Wake County had more than 8,100 at its peak.

Wrightsville, Kure, and Carolina beaches were without power, along with thousands in Wilmington, according to Duke Energy.

The National Weather Service said the max sustained winds at Johnny Mercer Pier at Wrightsville Beach was 69 mph at 12:36 a.m. with max gust 86 mph at 12:06 a.m.

Parts of Bald Head Island and Caswell Beach were also without power.

In a video from Sunset Beach police, debris and water could be seen covering the road onto island, which is just above the South Carolina border.

Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office said four adults, five children and a Basset Hound had to be rescued from a flooded home on Oak Island.

A WECT reporter with the rescue team said the sheriff’s office vehicle was driving through waters as deep as 18 inches.

Elsewhere in Brunswick County, which includes Sunset Beach, Holden Beach and Oak Island and Ocean Isle Beach, there were nearly 30,000 outages after 11:30 p.m. and more than 52,500 by 8:15 a.m. Tuesday. That number had dropped to just over 34,000 by 1 p.m.

Oak Island saw some serious flooding and downed trees.

On Bald Head Island, a roof was torn off of a house along Dogwood Ridge Road, according to the National Weather Service.

Another report of storm surge flooding was at the intersection of Canal Drive Pelican Lane in Carolina Beach, according to the weather service.

At least one person died after a tornado touched down at a mobile home park in Bertie County, Gov. Cooper said on Good Morning America.