Cormac Worrall, 6, left, helps his father remove tree debris from their yard in Virginia Beach, Va, on Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016, Storm system Hermine spun away from the U.S. East Coast on Sunday, removing the threat of heavy rain but maintaining enough power to churn risky waves and currents – and keep beaches off-limits to disappointed swimmers and surfers during the holiday weekend.
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As of this morning, there is still a Tropical Storm Warning in effect for coastal locations in the Northeast, including all waters around Long Island, according to the National Weather Service.
The storm, which crossed northern Florida and then moved up the Georgia and the Carolina coasts, was packing sustained surface winds of up to 65 miles per hour (100 kph) with higher gusts, the National Weather Service said.
The storm has claimed at least three lives, in Florida and in North and SC.
“My No. 1 concern is the risky rip currents we are going to experience”, the mayor said in a statement.
Meteorologist Margaret Curtis from the National Weather Service said the forecast calls for more dry weather this week in northern New England. A swift current running a few feet from the beach swept some surfers so quickly south, they couldn’t get past the breaking waves.
Instead, forecasters have labeled Hermine a post-tropical cyclone.
“Right now, it’s looking like we’re not having much of any beach fun”, she said.
“It was a little overhyped by the media”, said Andrew Thulin, assistant general manager of Daddy O Hotel Restaurant in the New Jersey township of Long Beach.
In Delray Beach, a body surfer was rescued from the rough surf on Monday.
“People from NY and New Jersey are kind of stuck here [during bad weather], so they can still come” if forecasts don’t play out as predicted, Khan said.
Parks officials said beaches will be closed to swimming, bathing and surfing on Tuesday.
Additional gradual weakening is likely during the next couple of days, and Hermine may weaken below tropical storm force by Thursday.
Governors along the Eastern Seaboard announced emergency preparations.
“The storm is getting close to Connecticut”, Haney said.
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One person died Saturday when a tractor-trailer overturned while crossing a bridge in eastern North Carolina amid high winds from Hermine, a spokesman for the state’s Department of Public Safety, Michael Baker, said.
