The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood watch and wind advisory for Moore County in anticipation of Tropical Storm Hanna.

The flood watch and wind advisory go into effect at 11 p.m. Friday and will last into Saturday. Hanna was close to hurricane strength Friday afternoon with forecasts expecting landfall somewhere between Charleston, S.C., and Wilmington at about 2 a.m. Saturday

The county has partially opened its Emergency Operations Center (EOC), according to Public Safety Director Carlton Cole, but does not plan to open shelters.

The National Weather Service issued an advisory at about 3 p.m. saying that Hanna was strengthening.

"Aircraft recon is measuring hurricane force wind gusts northeast of the center of circulation," the advisory said.

The storm has been zig-zagging off the East Coast all day Friday. It turned west early morning and then turn east during the afternoon.

"It's kind of wobbling out there," Cole said. "The farther east it goes, the better it is for us. We're just going to have to continue to hope."

Areas to the east of U.S. 1 can expect wind gusts of 45 mph and up to six inches of rain. Areas to the west of U.S. 1 can expect wind gusts of 35-40 mph and about two inches of rain.

County Public Safety is not expecting widespread damage but some power outages are likely.

"It's moving fairly fast, so that eliminates some of the threat of flood," Cole said.

Progress Energy has crews in the area ready to respond to outages. It may be more difficult for crews to work during the middle of the night, but it's also less likely that customers will experience power outages.

"You never want to speculate on Mother Nature," said Andy Honeycutt, community relations manager for Progress Energy in Aberdeen. "We've been tracking the storm. Our forecasts are very good and we feel very confident in our expectations for the storm. We've probably got a good handle on what we expect, some sporadic outages. Should it be worse, we're prepared."

If residents do encounter flooding, they should not wade or drive into flood waters.

"You should not drive onto a flooded road or through floodwaters because you cannot tell the condition of the road," Cole said. "It takes less than a foot of water to float a car and just inches to knock a person off their feet."

Anyone with questions can call the EOC with questions at 947-6317.

Contact Matthew Moriarty at 693-2479 or by e-mail at moriarty@thepilot.com.