A tropical storm warning remained in effect Sunday night from the DE and New Jersey shores north to New York’s Long Island and beyond to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Island off MA, but was canceled for New York City, which Berg said appeared largely out of harm’s way.
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Tropical storm conditions may linger out east and expect surf to still be high with coastal flooding possible. No significant rainfall was expected for the area, although scattered rain may occur in some parts of southern New England and the Mid-Atlantic states.
As Hermine spun away from the East Coast on Sunday, Gov. Chris Christie ordered Island Beach State Park be reopened today for Labor Day following his latest briefing on the impacts of the storm, which remains classified as a tropical storm but is moving further east and is expected to bring little or no rain to many beach areas. Video courtesy Daniel Martinko.
As the storm wound its way up the coast on Sunday after killing two people and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands in Florida, North Carolina, and Virginia last week, National Hurricane Center (NHC) director Rick Knabb warned in a webcast that Hermine “could become hurricane force again”. Officials are closely monitoring the storm, which is expected to produce storm surges that could result in coastal flooding.
Hermine (her-MEEN) caused two deaths, damaged properties, closed beaches as far north as NY, and left hundreds of thousands without electricity from Florida to Virginia. It also spawned a tornado in North Carolina.
“Unless it makes a turn back west. we’re going to be looking at moderate flooding rather than a very severe impact”, Christie told CBS News.Hermine, the first hurricane to make landfall in Florida in 11 years, swept ashore on Friday near the town of St. Marks with winds of 80 miles per hour, knocking out power for 300,000 Florida homes and businesses.
The storm entered the region as Tropical Storm Hermine, but had transitioned to a post-tropical cyclone as it entered the Atlantic Ocean around 11 a.m. The center of the storm is still expected to hover off the East Coast for a number of days, which means unsafe ocean conditions will continue too.
If you live on the East Coast, or planned to travel to it this weekend, there’s no doubt you heard about the threat of Tropical Storm/Hurricane Hermine.
Winds will kick back up Sunday night into Monday, with gusts to 40 or maybe 50 miles per hour possible (especially along the immediate coast).
Christie declared a state of emergency on Saturday for Atlantic, Cape May and Ocean counties, which will remain in effect at least through the holiday weekend. Nassau, County Executive Edward P. Mangano issued a Storm Surge Warning for residents living in flood prone areas and Tropical Storm Warning for all residents.
Pennsylvania State University geosciences professor Michael Mann told the Guardian, “We are already experiencing more and more flooding due to climate change in every storm”. “And it’s only the beginning”.
Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone has announced that a 6:00 p.m. deadline has been set for the voluntary evacuation of Fire Island ahead of what is now considered post-Tropical Storm Hermine.
Authorities reported one storm-related death, in the northern Florida town of Ocala, where a falling tree killed a homeless man sleeping in his tent. “I need to know where we’re going after we leave the hospital,”‘ Mr Beach said.
The timing couldn’t be worse for communities along the coast hoping for revenue from Labor Day events. The cancellation of two concerts due to the weather kept a lot of people away, Islam said.
Elsewhere along Hermine’s path, people were having decidedly less fun.
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In Virginia Beach, the storm forced Bruce Springsteen to move a Saturday night concert to Monday.
