The level of rain and flooding will depend on the path that Hermine takes. It should strike the eastern Carolinas before moving out to sea.
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Hermine weakened to a tropical storm Friday as it moved farther inland after making landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast. 45 to 55 miles per hour winds Friday… gusts maybe as high as 70 miles per hour over the open Atlantic. Locations near Raleigh and Fayetteville could experience gusts up to 25 or 35mph.
A few tornadoes are possible Thursday afternoon into Thursday night over north Florida and southeast Georgia.
Tropical Storm Hermine may impact Southern New England Sunday into Tuesday “with a rain and wind threat”, meteorologists said.
Rick Scott warned that the storm will bring downed trees and power outages, and urged people to stay indoors and make sure they have enough food, water and medicine for the next several days.
Officials say more than 200,000 homes and businesses are without power as Tropical Storm Hermine batters Florida and parts of Georgia.
A weakening Hermine moved across southern Georgia, blowing winds of 60 miles per hour (95 km) at 8 a.m. EDT, according to the National Hurricane Center.
After battering coastal Florida, Hermine was expected to weaken and move across the northern part of the state into Georgia, then southern USA coastal regions on the Atlantic, posing a Labor Day weekend threat for tens of millions of people.
High winds knocked trees on to several houses in Tallahassee, injuring residents inside, fire and rescue spokesman Mike Bellamy said. Life threatening Flash Flooding is possible. Bellamy said his agency responded to more than 300 calls overnight. Gillum estimated as many as 100,000 area residents were without electricity.
Hurricane warnings are now in effect from roughly around Apalachicola eastward to the Big Bend of north Florida. Communities as far south as Tampa shut roads due to flooding. He said property damage appears to be mostly from trees falling on homes or cars. “Any amount of standing water can serve as a breeding ground for mosquitoes”, Scott said. At least 18 people were rescued from flood waters, and more than 226,000 left without power. The Sunshine Skyway Bridge that spans Tampa Bay was closed because of high winds.
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By Friday morning, the storm barreled across southeastern Georgia, where thousands were without power.
