Tropical Storm Hanna is now forecast to make landfall near the South Carolina-North Carolina border, shifting northeast from its previously forecast landing point in Charleston County, south of Myrtle Beach, according to the National Weather Service's latest forecast at 5 p.m.
A tornado watch for Horry and Georgetown counties in South Carolina and Brunswick County in North Carolina has also been extended until 5 a.m. Saturday, the weather service said.
Hanna is still just shy of hurricane strength, packing winds of 70 mph with higher gusts. The storm is not expected to strengthen before landfall, although the weather service noted it would take just a small increase for it to develop into a hurricane.
The storm is now 240 miles south of Wilmington and moving north at nearly 20 mph.
"We're expecting strong tropical force winds right along the coast," said Reid Hawkins, science officer at the National Weather Service's Wilmington station, earlier in the day. "Maybe some gusts near hurricane strength."
As of 11 a.m., the storm was predicted to make landfall near McClellanville, exposing all of Georgetown, Horry and Brunswick counties to its stronger northern side, said meteorologist Tim Armstrong of the National Weather Service. In addition to its 50 to 60 mph winds, the storm will push several feet of water ashore between midnight and 4 a.m.
Coastal flooding near 6 feet would be "significant," Armstrong warned. Because the storm has never developed a strong inner core, those effects should be spread out similarly along the entire Grand Strand, Armstrong said.
"This is certainly one of the times when we would say, don't focus on the skinny black line," Armstrong said.
The good news is that no river flooding is expected in the area. Hanna is expected to bring 3 to 6 inches of rain -- even 8 or 9 inches in some spots -- but the Waccamaw and Pee Dee rivers should accomodate that, based on forecast models, Armstrong said.
"In the Myrtle Beach-area, the rivers should be able to handle all the rain," Armstrong said, noting that the only river meteorologists are concerned about is the Fay-swollen Lumbee River in Robeson County, N.C.
