Local officials not too worried about tropical storm
By From staff reports
Published in News on July 2, 2014 1:46 PM
Mount Olive's old-fashioned Fourth of July celebration will go on as planned Friday afternoon despite the unwelcome stormy visitor who is expected to pass just east of the state's coastal region over the next two days.
However, it will be later today before officials know whether what is expected to be Hurricane Arthur will force cancellation of the town's Friday night fireworks display.
Meanwhile, the Wayne County Office of Emergency Services is not preparing for any impact from the first named storm of the 2014 hurricane season.
Arthur is not expected to impact Wayne County whatsoever, interim director Mel Powers said.
"We're not expected to feel any effects from the storm on Friday. We could see up to a quarter inch of rainfall on Thursday," Powers said.
Powers and his staff continue to monitor the storm and will remain in contact with the National Weather Service should anything change.
As of this morning, Arthur had sustained winds of 60 miles per hour, but is expected to become a Category I hurricane with sustained winds of 80 miles per hour before reaching the North Carolina coast.
The southeastern coastal area should begin to feel some impact from the hurricane by early Thursday afternoon, but it is expected to be past the state by Friday afternoon, said Shawna Cokley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Raleigh.
The storm is expected to skirt the coast and should have no impact on the Wayne County area, she said.
If people were not aware of the coastal storm, they probably would not think anything was going on at all, she said.
However, Thursday's forecast still calls for the normal summer thunderstorms that could produce locally heavy downpours.
The possibility of thunderstorms continues into Friday, mainly before 2 p.m.