Ophelia, now a post-tropical cyclone, batters Northeast with heavy rain

Updated September 24, 2023 at 10:25 AM ET

Ophelia, now downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone, still poses a risk of flash flooding along the Mid-Atlantic coast from Washington, D.C., to New York on Sunday.

It its latest advisory from 5 a.m. EDT, the National Hurricane Center said it expects some areas in the Mid-Atlantic to southern New England to receive between 1 and 3 inches of rainfall. The swells generated by Ophelia will likely continue to produce life-threatening surf and rip current conditions along the East Coast.

Ophelia was downgraded from a tropical depression to a post-tropical cyclone on Saturday night. The center discontinued all storm surge and tropical storm warnings in its 8 p.m. ET advisory.

Coastal flooding will continue to be a threat in portions of the Chesapeake Bay on Sunday. Heavy rain from Ophelia will also pose a risk of flash flooding from Virginia to New Jersey, the center said.

Floods have become more frequent and severe in most of the U.S. due to more extreme precipitation and sea level rise from climate change.

About 2,400 customers in North Carolina were without power on Sunday morning, dropping from Saturday afternoon when about 30,000 customers had no power, according to PowerOutage.US, which tracks outages across the country. The number of customers with no power in Virginia was about 6,400 on Sunday morning.

On Friday, the governors of Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia declared a state of emergency.

Storm takes a toll on parts of North Carolina, Virginia and baseball

Ophelia made landfall near Emerald Isle, N.C. around 6:15 a.m. ET on Saturday, with maximum winds of 70 mph, the center said.

As the storm passed through central North Carolina, winds reaching between 20 and 25 mph with greater gusts of 35 to 45 mph resulted in downed trees and more power outages, the NWS said Saturday afternoon.

In Raliegh, Ophelia dumped over 3 inches of rain on Saturday, breaking the area's daily record set in 1906 by more than an inch, according to the National Weather Service.

The Virginia National Guard was on standby to perform water rescues and help clear debris, the state department of emergency management said.

Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey are also bracing for possible power outages as the storm heads their way. New York City also issued a travel advisory for the weekend, warning of heavy rain and potential flooding.

In light of weather concerns, the New York Yankees postponed their home game on Saturday against the Arizona Diamondbacks to Monday.

The Washington Nationals also postponed their home game against the Atlanta Braves from Saturday afternoon to the evening due to the weather. The Braves-Nationals game scheduled for Sunday afternoon has not been affected.

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