The National Hurricane Center in Miami warned of the possibility of localized flooding along the Carolina coast through Sunday morning. Saturday night at 11 p.m. EDT, the center of the storm was about 15 miles north of Wilmington, North Carolina, with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph. It was moving northeast at 7 mph. The storm is expected to weaken further and be completely eliminated by Sunday night or Monday morning. “Colin will continue to produce locally heavy rainfall over portions of coastal South and North Carolina through Sunday morning,” the center said. Individual amounts could reach up to 4 inches (10 cm). Some Fourth of July celebrations planned for Saturday in Charleston, South Carolina, were canceled after significant water pooled on the field at Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park. and more rain was expected. “This rainfall may lead to localized areas of flash flooding,” the center said. Separately, the center of Tropical Storm Bonnie moved into the Pacific on Saturday after a rapid track across Central America, where it caused flooding, downed trees and forced thousands of people to flee Nicaragua and Costa Rica. There were no immediate reports of deaths. By Saturday evening, Bonnie was centered about 130 miles (205 kilometers) west-southwest of Managua, with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (85 km/h). It was moving west at 16 mph (26 km/h). It is one of the rare storms to cross from the Atlantic to the Pacific without losing tropical storm strength, thus retaining its name. Forecasters said Bonnie was likely to become a hurricane this week off Mexico’s southern coast, but was unlikely to make direct landfall. Many Nicaraguans still remember Hurricane Joan, a powerful 1988 storm that wreaked havoc on the coast and caused nearly 150 deaths in the country. “We’re waiting for the storm to hit, hoping it doesn’t destroy our area,” said Bluefields resident Ricardo Gomez, who was 8 years old when Joan hit, before Bonnie arrived. The region was also hit by two powerful hurricanes, Eta and Iota, in quick succession in 2020, causing an estimated $700 million in damage. Officials in Costa Rica expressed concern that the storm would trigger landslides and flooding in an area already saturated by days of rain. The government said seven shelters in the north of the country were already hosting nearly 700 people displaced by the floods. Copyright © 2022 ABC11-WTVD-TV/DT. All rights reserved – The Associated Press contributed to this report.
