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By Peter Vankevich
A cold front and the fast-moving remnants of Hurricane Zeta, which made landfall Wednesday in southwest Louisiana as a Category 2 storm, will bring strong winds to the Outer Banks this afternoon into Friday with the possibility of a severe thunderstorm overnight.
The storm’s now tropical storm high winds and heavy rain have caused considerable damage, downed trees, flash flooding and loss of power in western North Carolina.
The National Weather Service Forecast Office out of Newport/Morehead City also reported a high rip current risk is in effect from Cape Hatteras to Cape Lookout as well as a high surf advisory with breaking waves up to 9 feet.
The southwest winds will produce some minor coastal flooding issues on the sounds.
As winds shift into the northwest early Friday morning, some water level rises of one to two feet are expected on the sound sides of Ocracoke and southern Hatteras islands.
