After claiming 13 lives in Alabama, Tropical Storm Claudette has re-strengthened and will bring dangerous conditions to parts of North and South Carolina Monday before pushing eastward into the Atlantic Ocean.
According to a Monday morning update from the National Hurricane Center, Claudette re-strengthened into a tropical storm overnight. As of 5 a.m. ET, Claudette was producing maximum sustained winds of 40 mph in eastern North Carolina.
NBC News reports that the storm is expected to dump 1 to 2 inches of rain on the Carolinas before moving out over the Atlantic.
According to the Associated Press, Claudette has already claimed the lives of 13 people, including 10 children. Eight of those children were killed Saturday in a horrific multi-vehicle crash on an Alabama interstate; officials say wet road conditions from Claudette likely caused that crash.
The crash happened about 35 miles south of Montgomery on Interstate 65. One of the vehicles involved was a van that belonged to the Tallapoosa County Girls Ranch, a youth home that provides a place to stay for neglected or abused school-aged children. The Associated Press reports that eight people in that vehicle were killed in the crash.
Elsewhere in Alabama, a 24-year-old man and a 3-year-old boy were killed when a tree fell on their home outside of Tuscaloosa.
