While the East Coast will likely be spared heavy rain, tropical storm warnings were in effect from Virginia to MA, and New Jersey, Delaware and eastern Long Island were bracing for heavy waves and a potentially life-threatening storm surge of up to 5 feet Sunday night and Monday morning.
Advertisement
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) – Hermine spun away from the East Coast on Sunday, removing the threat of heavy rain but maintaining enough power to whip up unsafe waves and rip currents and keep beaches off-limits to disappointed swimmers and surfers during the Labor Day weekend.
New York City plans to close its public beaches on Labor Day because of rip currents, and the ban could extend into Tuesday, depending on weather conditions, officials said.
Hermine isn’t expected to bring much rain to the area, but News 12 meteorologists say to expect sustained winds of 25 to 35 miles per hour, with stronger gusts that could potentially bring down trees and powerlines.
Forecasters say Hermine could regain hurricane force later Sunday as it travels up the coast before weakening again to a tropical storm by Tuesday. It brought flooding and power outages to parts of Florida and Georiga before churning up the East Coast.
It appears that the impact of storm system Hermine will be less severe than originally feared, New Jersey officials said Sunday, but they urged residents against being lulled into a false sense of security about the storm’s potential.
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.
At 11am, Hermine’s top sustained winds remained at 70 mph and its center – 230 miles southeast of the eastern tip of Long Island – started moving to the northwest at 6 mph.
There has been at least one death, and hundreds of thousands in Florida and Georgia were left without power in the wake of the storm.
Sunday afternoon was sunny, with highs in the mid-70s, even as the tropical storm crashed against the coastline and promised to ruin Labor Day beach plans for vacationers at beaches from Virginia to MA. Homes raised on stilts were standing high above the water. Many beaches in New Jersey and NY plan to close Monday.
The couple, both in their 60s, said they knew the storm would blow over, even as friends texted their concerns.
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.
Sea level rise caused by climate change could mean the damage wrought by Post-Tropical Cyclone Hermine will be even greater than previous surges, scientists warned this weekend.
Michael Mann, at Pennsylvania State University, said the 1-foot rise that New York City has experienced over the past century caused an additional 25 square miles and several billions of dollars of damage with Superstorm Sandy in 2012.
And on Hatteras Island in the Outer Banks, a small tornado spawned by Hermine knocked over two trailers and injured four people, authorities said.
Advertisement
In the northern Florida town of Ocala, a falling tree killed a homeless man sleeping in his tent. But most people were cleaning up trees and branches felled by the storm.
