Tyrrell County Sheriff Darryl Liverman told CBS News that high winds tipped over an 18-wheeler, killing its driver and shutting down the USA 64 bridge.
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According to the latest from the National Weather Service, the storm brings a 30 percent chance of showers in Warwick today, likely after 3 p.m.
Hermine made landfall early Friday on the Gulf Coast of western Florida, becoming the first storm in 11 years to reach the state at hurricane strength.
Hermine already caused 2 deaths, damaged homes and businesses and left hundreds of thousands without electricity from Florida to Virginia.
“We think it could become a hurricane force again”, said Dr. Rick Knabb, director of the National Hurricane Center, on Periscope.
A surge is the rise of water above a predicted tide, pushed by high winds, and is often the greatest threat to life from a storm, according to U.S. weather officials.
At 11 p.m. Sunday, Hermine’s top sustained winds were steady at 70 miles per hour (110 kph) as it moved north-northeast at 3 miles per hour (6 kph).
The video above shows the rough surf in Long Beach Island, New Jersey Sunday morning as the effects of Tropical Storm Hermine are beginning on the East Coast.
Still, a tropical storm warning remains in effect for Long Island, as does a state of emergency declared in Suffolk County on Saturday.
“It’s going to sit offshore and it is going to be a tremendous coastal event with a risky storm surge and lots of larger waves probably causing significant beach erosion, for the next few days”, said Daniel Brown, senior hurricane specialist at the center.
On Saturday, high winds tipped over an 18-wheeler, killing its driver and shutting down the USA 64 bridge in North Carolina’s Outer Banks. On friday, a homeless man was killed by a falling tree in Florida.
The storm was expected to spend the next several days meandering in the Atlantic, gaining some strength.
The hurricane center said Hermine could hold onto that intensity for the next couple of days.
Beachgoers were out in Long Beach Saturday to salvage what they could of the Labor Day weekend ahead of Hermine’s arrival.
The National Hurricane Center maintained its tropical storm watch for Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket and said unsafe storm surges would continue along the coast from Virginia to New Jersey.
Hermine’s timing couldn’t be worse for coastal communities hoping for revenue from Labour Day events. “It’s risky”, Broudy said in a telephone interview.
He called the weekend “definitely disappointing”.
The New York Post said police issued $80 tickets to at least four surfers at the Rockaway Beach surf spot. And Amtrak cancelled or altered some service as the storm approached.
“I want everybody to have their power”, he said.
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Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey declared emergencies for Atlantic, Cape May and Ocean counties, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo of NY said the state’s emergency operations center would be activated today.
