Officials have extended hurricane warning conditions for the Bahamas to include the capital city of Nassau.
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“We still don’t know where Joaquin will go next”, Craig Fugate, the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said at today’s new conference.
Still more rain is forecast for the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast on Friday and Saturday, again not directly related to Joaquin. Regardless of the storm’s ultimate path, the East Coast will likely experience heavy rain and flooding. However, it’s imperative that Rhode Islanders are also prepared so that they are ready for both the upcoming severe weather, as well as Tropical Storm Joaquin. Forecasters say the center of Joaquin should move over or near portions of the central Bahamas Thursday afternoon and night.
Joaquin, already considered a major hurricane, is expected to strengthen over the next day or two.
Hurricane Center in Miami said.
At 11 p.m. EDT (0300 GMT), the NHC said the storm was moving west at only three miles (5 km) per hour.
Although newly formed Hurricane Joaquin is projected to remain clear of Florida, it likely will produce a few large swells and minor beach erosion along the state’s east coast. The system is forecast to veer close to the Carolinas on Sunday and approach New Jersey – still as a Category 1 hurricane – on Monday.
Hurricane Joaquin is the first Category 4 storm to track through the Bahamas in October since 1866. Direct impacts of the storm will be low, with a five to 19 percent chance of tropical storm-level winds from the storm in South Carolina, he said.
“The last thing we want is another [system] coming up behind the one we just got”, Robichaud said.
The GFS’s earlier prediction that the storm would make landfall in the United States ran counter to the European model, which has been consistently saying the hurricane would remain largely over water.
The latest tracking maps show the powerful Category 4 storm staying well offshore.
The concern it may be a repeat of 2012’s Hurricane Sandy are becoming stronger, and there is little doubt there will be impacts including flooding, property damage and power outages. “In the past, we did not take the worst-case scenario into full consideration”.
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Joaquin was about 80 miles (125 kilometers) south-southeast of San Salvador.
