Julia strengthens into a tropical storm once again
CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Julia has once again strengthened into a tropical storm as it meanders off the coast of the Carolinas.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Julia’s maximum sustained winds at 5 p.m. EDT on Thursday were 40 mph. The storm is centered about 175 miles southeast of Charleston, South Carolina and 150 miles southeast of Wilmington, North Carolina.
Julia is moving at a speed of 8 mph and is forecast to continue drifting off the Carolinas for the next few days. It currently is posing no threat to land.
Slow-moving Tropical Storm Julia dumped rain across northeast Florida and along much of the Georgia coastline Wednesday morning, but in most places it was business as usual.
Schools and government offices remained open as the storm, which formed late Tuesday afternoon off Florida’s Atlantic coast, skirted across Jacksonville and moved north, bringing rain and tropical winds to much of southern Georgia.
According to CBS affiliate WGLC, Atlanta had been in a six-month rain deficit, but there is so far a surprlus of 0.9 inches of rain in September.
Some minor street flooding was reported early Wednesday in Brunswick, Georgia, and on nearby Sea Island. Winds from Julia also downed some limbs and caused power outages on St. Simons Island, said Jay Wiggins, emergency management director for Glynn County. But the worst wind and rainfall had subsided by daybreak Wednesday as the storm passed to the northwest.
“We were very lucky once again,” Wiggins said. “Really it was not much of an issue for us.”