Michael brings dangerous winds, flooding in U.S. Mid-Atlantic: NHC

Reuters

(Reuters) - Tropical Storm Michael is bringing damaging winds and life-threatening flash flooding over portions of North Carolina and Virginia before heading off into the Atlantic Ocean, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Thursday.

The center of Michael will bring gale- to storm-force winds over portions of southeastern Virginia, extreme northeastern North Carolina, and the Delmarva Peninsula late on Thursday night and on Friday morning when it becomes post-tropical off the Mid-Atlantic coast, the Miami-based weather forecaster said.

Michael, the third most powerful hurricane ever to hit the U.S. mainland, smashed into Florida's northwest coast near the small town of Mexico Beach on Wednesday as a Category 4 hurricane with 155-mile-per-hour (250-kilometer-per-hour) winds. It left at least 7 dead and tore apart coastal towns.

By 8 p.m. (0000 GMT) on Thursday, the storm was located about 5 miles (10 km) northwest of Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, with maximum sustained winds of 50 miles-per-hour (85 kph).

(Reporting by K. Sathya Narayanan and Karen Rodrigues in Bengaluru; Editing by Sandra Maler)