Flash flood warning lifted, tornado watch in effect

Stokes County is under multiple weather advisories, including a flash flood warning issued around 9 a.m. and a tornado watch issued around 8 a.m.

About 2 to 4 inches of rain have fallen across portions of Stokes County in the past 24 hours with an additional 2 to 4 inches possible in the warned area, according to a National Weather Service report .

A flood watch and wind advisory also remain in effect until 8 p.m.

There have been no reports of tornado activity as of about 10:30 a.m. on Friday, according to Stokes County Emergency Services Director Brandon Gentry.

Local impact of the storm has consisted of a lot of downed trees and power lines at this point, Gentry said.

"The number of trees falling is overwhelming to your local fire departments," Sheriff Joey Lemons cautioned on social media. "As they are trying to remove trees, other trees continue to fall around them. If you do not need to be on the roadways, please stay at home or wait till conditions improve."

So far, all the roads remain open except those closed by previous weather events.

According to an Associated Press report , Hurricane Helene weakened to a tropical storm Friday after making landfall overnight in northwestern Florida as a category 4 storm.

The National Weather Service in Blacksburg, Virginia, continues to issue warnings for the surrounding region. As of Friday morning, along with Stokes, Surry, Yadkin counties, and Rockingham counties and Patrick and Carroll counties in Virginia, remained under a flash flood warning and a tornado watch until 6 p.m. on Friday.

Widespread flooding and power outages have been reported in Surry County and downtown Elkin.

The National Weather Service first issued a flood watch for areas including Stokes County around 11 a.m. Thursday in effect through Friday evening.

"Catastrophic, life threatening flooding, caused by excessive rainfall continues to be possible," the alert states.

"Extensive street flooding and flooding of creeks and rivers are possible. Area creeks and streams are running high and could flood with more heavy rain."

Stokes County Schools issued a weather alert on social media that Friday, Sept. 27 will be a remote learning day.

Gentry said that the departments have been busy preparing for the storm: local stakeholders have met together and resources such as generators and the shelter have been checked.

Stokes County E-911 was staffed with extra telecommunicators to assist during the storm, and the NC Department of Transportation have developed a plan to try to keep the roads clear and open, Gentry said.

Resources have also been identified that, if not needed locally, can be sent to western areas of the state where the impact is expected to be more severe.

The Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina branch of the National Weather Service issued a flood warning after noon on Thursday, reporting that rivers in North Carolina's Madison and Buncombe counties were already above flood level.

"Considerable to catastrophic Moderate to Major flooding across much of the French Broad River and Swannanoa River valleys is expected as a result of extremely rare rainfall," the alert states. "This flooding will exceed the Major, catastrophic flooding observed in September 2004 from Hurricanes Frances and Ivan and has the potential to exceed the 1916 floods, especially from the French Broad River headwaters near Rosman and Blantyre to Asheville."

N.C. HIGHWAY 89

The NC Department of Transportation announced Thursday morning that N.C. Highway 89 repairs have been delayed due to rain throughout the week and the road will not reopen by Sept. 30 as expected.

Contractors are in the "final surface" stage of repairs and still hope to reopen the segment north of Danbury early next week, said S.P. (Pat) Ivey, district 9 engineer.

If you have flooding or storm stories you wish to share with readers of The Stokes News, when it is safe to do so, please send those to Terri Flagg at terri.flagg@thestokesnews.com along with information on who took the picture and where it was shot.

This story is developing, so please check back as more details may be added.