Storm Hermine roared through communities along the Atlantic coast, battering beaches from the Outer Banks to the Delmarva Peninsula with blustery winds and rain but sparing many areas inland.
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Hermine, now a post-tropical cyclone, was moving across the Outer Banks of North Carolina in an east-northeasterly direction at approximately 12 miles (19 kilometers) per hour, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said. “This situation may become too large in scope to be handled by the normal county and municipal operating services”.
Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center expect Hermine to turn to the northeast and decrease its forward speed on Saturday night.
And 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. Warnings of potentially risky riptides temporarily cleared the water Monday, but a couple of dozen beachgoers and a handful of surfers returned to the water in Atlantic City by the afternoon. “We expect to see some significant beach erosion and some risky rip currents”.
It has caused two deaths, inflicted widespread property damage and closed beaches as far north as NY. “People can walk on the beach and be on the sand, just not in the water”, he said.
Hermine (her-MEEN) will continue to twist hundreds of miles off shore in the Atlantic Ocean and keep swimmers and surfers out of beach waters because of its unsafe waves and rip currents on the last day of the long holiday weekend.
The storm hit Florida early Friday as a Category 1 hurricane.
The National Weather Service was predicting sustained winds of about 30 miles per hour with gusts up to 50 miles per hour in Cape Cod, Massachusetts and the nearby island of Nantucket – powerful enough to knock down small trees. Some of these cells could produce a good squall line (heavy downpours with high winds), which could cause downed trees since most trees still have their leaves.
A medical examiner’s office has yet to determine whether the storm was the cause, Florida Gov. Rick Scott said.
Officials are warning residents to prepare for strong wind gusts along the Shoreline as Tropical Storm Hermine makes its way to CT.
Rain won’t be much of a problem, because the heaviest rainfall will remain offshore.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) continues a storm surge warning for the Hampton Roads, including Virginia Beach and Norfolk.
“There is still considerable uncertainty as to how numerous characteristics of a tropical cyclone Hermine will have while it is off of the coast of the Mid-Atlantic and New England”, the National Hurricane Centre said.
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency for coastal areas.
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The Miami-based service also warned of an anticipated risky storm surge in the next 36 hours along the coast from Virginia to New Jersey.
