Bonnie, Colin bring plenty of rain, no 'major' flooding to Outer Banks

Tropical Storm Colin headed out to sea Tuesday after dropping heavy rains from Florida to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, flooding roads and causing power outages, especially in the Sunshine State.

Along N.C. Highway 12, the locals called Colin's aftermath "just a little bit of water," but tourist Justine Cashdollar said she was "shocked."

"The water is splashing up on us and we are getting all wet and it is not fun," said Rylee Valentich.

Tropical storm warnings were dropped by early afternoon on Tuesday and the remains of Colin had moved into the Atlantic off the North Carolina coast, with maximum sustained winds up to 60 mph, the U.S. National Hurricane Center reported.

Forecasters said up to another 1 inch to 2 inches of rain could fall along the Outer Banks, with up to 3 more inches of rain in central Florida.

The Hurricane Center said Colin marked the earliest that a third named storm has ever formed in the Atlantic basic.

In Dare County, which includes pencil-thin territories from Kitty Hawk down to Hatteras Island, Emergency Management Director Drew Pearson said rain had been falling nearly continuously since last week's Tropical Storm Bonnie but that, so far, major flooding had not impacted the area.

"We're really just seeing large amounts of water," Pearson said, noting that many roads in the Outer Banks are at sea level, meaning that they can be quickly impacted by heavy rains, but adding that traffic may be slow but hadn't been stopped anywhere.

Cashdollar said she hadn't expected quite so much rain during her Outer Banks vacation.

"We thought the storm had gone through last week," she said. "The rain was crazy."

Calvin Preston, who works on the Outer Banks for the summer, said, "I was driving a Honda Civic, and like the right side was nearly floating up, and the water was coming in the doors."