Tropical storm conditions were expected along a stretch of the U.S. Southeast seacoast as the system bringing gusty winds, heavy rain and potential flooding has strengthened, forecasters said Monday.
The storm system was expected to reach the South Carolina coast Monday afternoon and then move inland across the Carolinas from Monday night through Wednesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Strong winds were approaching the coast Monday morning and were expected to spread onshore.
A tropical storm warning was in effect from Edisto Beach, South Carolina, northward to Ocracoke Inlet, near the southernmost extreme of North Carolina's Outer Banks.
The low-pressure system was centered Monday morning about 100 miles (160 kilometers) east of Charleston, South Carolina, and about 85 miles (140 kilometers) south of Cape Fear, North Carolina. It had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (85 kph) and was moving to the northwest at 3 mph (6 kph), forecasters said.
The system still had a chance of becoming a tropical or subtropical storm, but forecasters have said those chances may have started to decrease since it seemed to have become less organized.
