Tropical storm Ophelia is expected to reach the coast of North Carolina on Friday night and bring high winds, coastal flooding and life-threatening rip currents northward to New Jersey over the weekend.
The National Hurricane Center has issued a tropical storm warning from Cape Fear, N.C., to Fenwick Island, Del. This includes Albemarle and Pamlico sounds in North Carolina, the Tidal Potomac River south of Cobb Island, Md., and Chesapeake Bay south of North Beach, Md. The region stretching from Surf City to Beaufort Inlet in North Carolina, and the remainder of Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds, were under a storm surge watch. A storm surge warning was also in effect from just north of Wilmington, N.C., to Chincoteague, Va., south of the Delaware line.
