HILO, Hawaii (AP) – Forecasters on Wednesday downgraded Hurricane Madeline to a tropical storm as it veered past Hawaii’s Big Island, but officials reiterated warnings to prepare for heavy rain and strong winds. Maximum sustained winds are near 105 miles per hour (165 kph) with higher gusts.
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If the storm lingers in the Gulf, however, and is allowed to drift north and west, it could make landfall in the more populated Florida panhandle and would have a little extra time to strengthen as well. The forecast now calls for Lester to miss the islands directly, pushing just to the north, but the entire island chain is still in the forecast “cone of uncertainty”.
On Thursday afternoon, the National Hurricane Center extended a tropical storm watch to Sandy Hook, New Jersey. The rainfall may lead to risky flash floods and mudslides, the weather service warned.
Lester is expected to take a turn to the northwest and pass near Hawaii this weekend, potentially bringing more muggy weather, big waves, strong winds and rains Friday through Sunday.
The development came as merchants boarded up shop windows along Hilo Bay and shoppers snatched food and water from store shelves after initially being told the island could be hit by its first hurricane in a quarter-century.
Madeline is expected to weaken to a tropical storm with winds below 74 miles per hour as it moves south of Oahu and other islands Thursday. As much as 15 inches (40 cm) could fall from central to northern Florida, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said, warning of storm surges and “life-threatening inundation”.
“We had nothing to alarm us”, said Kalei Makua, a retired mason who lives in Hawaiian Beaches on the Big Island.
Towns, cities and counties along the Gulf Coast have been hastily preparing shelters for people and pets, setting up centers where residents could fill sandbags for personal use and placing electric line fix crews on standby ahead of the storm. Tropical storm-force winds extend outward up to 105 miles from its center.
Strong winds were gusting on Oahu as a series of bright blue flashes lit up the night sky above Honolulu.
The warning covers an area that extends from Marineland, Florida, northward to the South Santee River in SC.
USA oil and gas producers in east of the Gulf of Mexico removed workers from 10 offshore platforms, moved drilling rigs and shut some output because of the storm.
Some US oil and gas producers in the eastern parts of the Gulf of Mexico were returning workers to offshore facilities on Thursday and restarting operations shut as the system moved toward Florida.
“We have not had a hurricane in years”, Scott said, noting that 8,000 members of the Florida National Guard were prepared to be mobilized.
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Hawaii County and Maui County, which includes Maui, Lanai, Molokai and Kahoolawe, are under a hurricane watch.
