At 11 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Hermine’s center was about 325 miles (523 km) southeast of Long Island, the eastern tip of NY, the hurricane center said.
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The storm, which crossed northern Florida and then moved up the Georgia and the Carolina coasts, was still packing sustained surface winds of up to 70 miles per hour with higher gusts on Monday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.
Hurricane Hermine moved away from the East Coast on Sunday and was downgraded to a tropical storm, but it appeared to have gained strength again causing high waves along the coast.
Tens of millions of residents, from Virginia north to New England, are expected to remain under tropical storm watches and warnings for the rest of Labor Day weekend.
Hermine twisted hundreds of miles offshore in the Atlantic Ocean on Monday, creating large waves in some southern New England beach waters that lured in surfers despite the rough surf and rip currents that kept most.
Governor Rick Scott toured the affected areas in Florida including Levy, Taylor, and Pasco counties on the Gulf Coast and surveyed the damage caused by the flooding from the tropical storm.
Forecasters expected Hermine to linger off the Northeast before gradually weakening by Tuesday morning.
As of Monday night, the NHC maintained tropical storm warnings for the coast of Long Island from Fire Island Inlet to Port Jefferson Harbor, from New Haven, Conn., to Sagamore Beach, Mass., Block Island, Rhode Island, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.
Tropical storm-force winds were possible Monday in New Jersey.
A tropical storm warning remains in effect off the coast, and forecasters say the strongest winds and roughest seas could come late Tuesday as the storm makes it closest approach to the state.
Meteorologists were also braced for Hermine to shift back toward shore later Tuesday – causing a brief uptick in the storm surge and some unseasonably cold weather.
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.
Monday at 11 a.m. ET, the National Hurricane Center said the storm was drifting north at about 6 miles per hour.
States along the East Coast had already made emergency preparations.
Tyrrell County Sheriff Darryl Liverman told the Virginian-Pilot that high winds tipped over an 18-wheeler, killing its driver and shutting down the US 64 bridge.
The weather service said there is still a threat of minor coastal flooding across low-lying areas.
Earlier in Florida, a homeless man was killed by a falling tree. Thousands of homes and businesses lost power.
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“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.
