The storm is expected to continue turning toward the sea and weaken by Wednesday and Thursday, according to forecasters.
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But Hermine was not expected to make landfall again, said Robbie Berg, an official of the National Hurricane Center.
Hermine was downgraded to a tropical storm later that day as it moved northward.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – Hermine is expected to begin weakening as it churns hundreds of miles offshore in the Atlantic Ocean, but forecasters warn it could continue to impact areas from NY to southern New England with pounding waves, coastal flooding and beach erosion before it moves out to sea.
A tropical storm warning remained in effect Sunday night from the eastern end of New York’s Long Island and to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Island off Cape Cod in MA, but the red flag came down for New York City.
Coastal Queens, The Bronx, Westchester, Nassau and Fairfield counties were at roughly a 90 percent chance of getting at least 3 feet of storm surge.
The New York Post said police issued $80 tickets to at least four surfers at Rockaway Beach.
The storm was centered about 110 miles (177 kilometers) south-southeast of the eastern tip of Long Island.
Even as Hermine weakens, wind gusts of 30 to 50 miles per hour were expected across southern Rhode Island and southeastern MA on Monday, Buttrick said.
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, Connecticut, to Sagamore Beach, Massachusetts, Block Island, Rhode Island, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.
“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.
Officials mindful of the 2012 devastation of Superstorm Sandy took every precaution.
The storm, which crossed northern Florida and then raked Georgia and the Carolinas, was still packing sustained surface winds of up to 70 miles per hour (110 kph) with higher gusts on Monday morning, according to the National Weather Service.
Locally, Storm Team 4 reported the greatest risk for risky surge is along the western shoreline of Long Island Sound.
Since sea levels have risen up to a foot due to global warming, the storm surges pushed by Hermine could be even more damaging, climate scientists say.
High winds tipped over an 18-wheeler on Saturday, killing its driver and shutting down the US 64 bridge in North Carolina’s Outer Banks.
The storm hit Florida early Friday as a Category 1 hurricane.
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This report contains material from the Associated Press.
