One more cloudy day

Expect at least one more day of dreary weather.

Friday’s forecast for Onslow and Carteret County includes lots of clouds and an occasional drizzle, said Robert Frederick, a duty forecaster for the National Weather Service in Newport.

“The storm that produced all the rain and minor flooding has lifted and is slowly moving north, and will continue to move away from the region,” he said. “As the low moves through the winds will be decreasing as well.”

But that doesn’t mean all is back to normal.

Rainfall totals reported by Frederick for Tuesday through 7 a.m. Thursday of 9.2 inches in Swansboro, 8.57 inches in Sneads Ferry and 10.75 inches in Bogue Field left a bit of damage in their wake.

Two roads in Onslow and Pender County remain closed due to high water, said Robert Vause, a district engineer with N.C. Department of Transportation.

“N.C. 210 off N.C. 50 in Surf City is closed to U.S. 17, due to high water near the fire station, and Gibson Bridge Road in the Belgrade area, an unpaved road, is closed,” he said.

In Swansboro, the outside eastbound lane of Shell Rock Landing Road washed out, as did a section of sidewalk alongside N.C. 24, which closed the right eastbound lane.

He advised travelers to continue to use extreme caution on the roads.

“We still have some places where there continues to be some isolated amounts of water on the road in various locations, but those roads have not been closed,” he said.

He said the wind did not cause any significant damage.

“We had a few reports of trees down but nothing of any significance that I am aware of,” he said.

In Carteret County a portion of West Firetower Road, just south of Breezy Point Road, will remain closed until repairs can be made, according to NCDOT Travel Information at 5 p.m. Thursday. In addition TIMS reports that a section of Lake Road northwest of Newport and south of Havelock in the vicinity of the fire department is closed to through traffic until the water recedes, which could be as late as this morning.

Small craft advisories will remain in effect through early Saturday morning. Moderate surf and moderate rip current threats south of Cape Lookout are also in effect through Friday.

Friday’s highs are expected to be in the mid to upper 50s with a 50-percent chance of rain.  Saturday forecasts put the high at 67 with north winds between nine and 11 miles per hour.

And maybe, just maybe, some welcome sunshine.

Contact Suzanne Ulbrich at 910-219-8454 or sulbrich@freedomenc.com.