Downed trees, power outages spread across the Triangle as Tropical Storm Ian arrives in NC

Hazardous conditions continue to spread into central North Carolina from Tropical Storm Ian.

Ian made landfall as a category 1 hurricane just after 2 p.m. ET Friday near Georgetown, South Carolina with maximum sustained wind of 85 mph with rain and winds that were felt well into central North Carolina.

As of 5 p.m. ET Friday, Ian is a tropical storm with maximum wind speeds of 70 mph. The storm is about 20 miles northwest of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

The National Weather Service said to expect rainfall intensity and wind speeds to continue to increase as the storm’s center of circulation moves north and west through North Carolina.

Through 3:30 p.m., Raleigh had seen 1.5 inches of rain and Durham had seen between 0.5 inch and 1.5 inches.

A tree came down and power lines were down along London Drive in the Budleigh neighborhood in Raleigh. It appeared the tree was blocking the road.

Along East Whitaker Mill Road near Center Road, a tree blew down, taking with it power lines, causing outages in the area. The tree did not fall on a home or block traffic.

There are also reports of multiple trees fallen in north Raleigh near Durant Road and Litchfield Road.

Parts of trees and limbs were also down in Raleigh along Ashe Avenue near Hillsborough Street.

Along Granville Drive and Perquimans Drive in Raleigh, a downed tree was blocking the road.

The Wake County Government is advising drivers not to drive into flooded areas, and for those who must go out to beware of fallen power lines.

Tree knocks out power to north Durham neighborhood

A tree fell on Gresham Avenue east of the Northgate Dog Park and Ellerbe Creek. The downed tree knocked out power for several people living in the Northgate Park neighborhood.

Durham police blocked off Gresham Avenue as they worked to clear the scene.

There didn’t appear to be any injuries.

Around 40 Duke Energy customers along Ryan Street were also without power on Friday afternoon.

Along the Glenn School Road area of Durham County, there were around 400 customers without power.

Durham conditions

Durham police have had multiple reports of traffic signals being out at intersections, including:

Chapel Hill conditions

On Rosemary Street in Chapel Hill, a tree branch has knocked out power to about 250 homes.

Also, along King Street a tree fell onto a home. Crews from the Carrboro Police Department, Carrboro Fire Department and Orange County Emergency Services were on scene to clear the tree.

In Chapel Hill, South Columbia Street is closed in both directions near Westwood Drive due to a downed tree. The Chapel Hill Fire Department is asking for people to avoid the area.