During a press conference Sunday at the Morristown Armory, Christie said the storm is pacing slower than it had been in previous days, which means the effects could last until Wednesday.
Advertisement
The hurricane center said Saturday evening that the storm would “meander slowly offshore of the mid-Atlantic coast for the next couple of days before churning past New Jersey and NY”. With Hermine stalling over warm water, there is still the potential for the storm to strengthen back to hurricane force winds, but again the eastward shift seems to have spared the coastline from the worst possible outcomes.
Further south in Cape May, New Jersey, tourists fled during rainstorms on Saturday only to have the weather improve.
Slow-moving Tropical Storm Hermine returned to near hurricane strength Saturday off the Atlantic coast bringing threats of deadly storm surge flooding during the Labor Day weekend from North Carolina to CT.
Hermine, classified as a Category 1 hurricane when it slammed into Florida’s Gulf Coast early on Friday, became a post-tropical storm by week’s end after its winds dropped below 74 miles per hour and it lost its tropical characteristics.
As of 2 a.m. EDT Monday, Hermine’s top sustained winds were steady at 70 miles per hour (110 kph) as it moved north at 3 miles per hour (6 kph).
As of Sunday afternoon, the National Weather Service reports that the storm is about 340 miles southeast of New York City, and is traveling north-northeast at a speed of about 10 mph.
“The signing of the declaration of emergency was to give me the maximum amount of flexibility to respond to the storm as would be needed”. “But whenever severe weather is predicted, there is always an elevated sense of anxiety”.
The center forecast the heaviest rains to remain offshore, with Hermine expected to produce 1 to 2 inches (2.5 to 5 cm) of rain through Monday from Long Island to eastern MA.
Some 55,000 homes or businesses were left without power in Virginia as the storm struck. But I remind everyone that making repairs in high winds is not a safe thing for them to do.
Hermine will continue to twist hundreds of miles off shore in the Atlantic Ocean and keep swimmers and surfers out of beach waters because of its risky waves and rip currents on the last day of the long holiday weekend.
Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone has also declared a State of Emergency, saying “although this storm will not hit us directly, the storm could potentially be worse in some ways”.
Tropical Storm Warnings are in effect along Long Island and coastal New England.
Climate change is expected to make storms like Hermine even more common in the North Atlantic. “And it’s only the beginning”.
Tyrrell County Sheriff Darryl Liverman said that high winds tipped over t.
And on Hatteras Island in the Outer Banks, a small tornado spawned by Hermine knocked over two trailers and injured four people, authorities said.
A homeless man was killed by a falling tree Friday in Florida.
Hermine’s timing dealt a blow to coastal communities hoping for revenue from Labor Day events.
In Virginia Beach, Virginia, Seth Broudy, 45, owner of the Seth Broudy School of Surf, said high winds and tides flooded parking lots by his home on Saturday.
There are many disappointed swimmers and surfers as some beaches are off-limits this Labour Day Weekend.
“It’s very hard right now to estimate exactly how many people we’re going to be serving in the greater New York area”, said Josh Lockwood, CEO of the American Red Cross in Greater New York.
In Savannah, Georgia, Bacon Fest was canceled Friday and Saturday’s Craft Brew Fest was moved indoors.
Advertisement
Virginia Beach resident, Seth Broudy, speaking to Reuters news agency about the coastal conditions on Saturday, said: “Right now it’s rough as hell”. New York City beaches are also closed today.
