Chantal continues to bring rain, wind as it moves inland after South Carolina landfall
Tropical Storm Chantal made landfall early Sunday morning at 4 a.m. EDT near Litchfield Beach, South Carolina. As Chantal continues to move inland flooding rain will continue. However, Chantal is losing wind intensity and is now a tropical depression.
After AccuWeather proactively declared the tropical system off the Southeast coast a tropical rainstorm on Friday morning to raise public awareness, it strengthened and became Tropical Depression 3 on Friday afternoon. The tropical depression then gained further wind intensity and became Tropical Storm Chantal on Saturday morning.
"This was a classic example of homegrown development, by which a tropical storm formed close to the southeast Atlantic coast and in an area where it is typical for July," said AccuWeather Lead Hurricane Expert Alex DaSilva.
Chantal was the third tropical storm of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season, following Andrea and Barry from June.
Heavy rain will continue Sunday night into Monday from central and eastern North Carolina northward through Virginia. Rainfall totals of 4-8 inches, with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 13 inches, are expected west of Raleigh, North Carolina where significant flooding is likely through Sunday night. Due to the prolonged nature of the heavy rain and rainfalls rates over 2 inches per hour, flooding can occur quickly and without warning.
Across southern Virginia, rainfall totals of 2-4 inches are expected which can lead to localized flash flooding, especially in low-lying and poor drainage areas.
With a persistent onshore flow around the circulation of Chantal, there will be coastal hazards as well. Even far away from the track of the storm, rough surf, rip currents and beach erosion are possible.
That same persistent onshore flow caused higher water levels as Chantal made landfall. Although the storm did not have a lot of wind intensity, there was enough to raise the concern of storm surge along the coast of North and South Carolina.
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Besides rain and coastal hazards, there will continue to be a risk of isolated tornadoes. This is common with tropical systems, since there is already spin associated with it. They are usually less intense and shorter-lived than they are in other cases, but they can still cause enhanced damage on a localized level.
Even after Chantal moves farther inland and continues to lose wind intensity, there will still be clouds and downpours that can move northward along the mid-Atlantic coast. This could limit the eastern extent of heat that will be building from the Appalachians westward.
"Elsewhere in the tropical Atlantic, there is a vast area of dry air, wind shear and Saharan dust that will limit or prevent tropical development in the short term, and that is not unusual for July," explained DaSilva.
Conversely, the eastern Pacific has been very active. AccuWeather meteorologists are watching for more development in the coming days. Luckily, no land impacts are expected.
The next name on the list for the 2025 eastern Pacific season is Gil.
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