Isaias is here. The hurricane slammed into North Carolina late Monday night, bringing howling 85 mph winds and flooding. CNN reports the Category 1 hurricane hit land near Ocean Isle Beach shortly after 11 p.m., and was downgraded to a tropical storm early Tuesday morning, when its maximum sustained winds slowed to around 70 mph. Around 245,000 customers were plunged into darkness when their power failed, according to PowerOutage.US, and several buildings in Ocean Isle Beach were reported to be on fire. When it’s done with the Carolinas, Isaias is expected to bring strong winds along the East Coast on Tuesday. Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and New York are all expected to feel its effects. Ross Dickman from the National Weather Service’s New York office said: “The wind and flooding impacts from Isaias will be similar to what the city has seen from some of the strongest coastal storms... but we haven’t seen one this strong in many years.”
