Gusty winds and possible coastal flooding remain the top concerns as Hermine churns over the Atlantic Ocean.
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“At a minimum, we’re going to have some beach erosion, rip currents and unsafe waves all the way from the south facing shores of New England, Cape Cod, Nantucket. down to the Hampton Roads area”, Knabb said.
Hermine 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.
Hermine had already struck Florida, North Carolina and Virginia hard during its journey to the Northeast, which began Friday. A tropical storm warning was in effect from New York’s Long Island to MA. The island, a narrow barrier island off Long Island’s southern coast, which fills with beach house owners and renters on weekends – especially long ones – was under a voluntary evacuation warning Sunday. Hermine lost hurricane strength over land but was intensifying Saturday along t. The last hurricane to make landfall in the United States was Arthur in 2014 in North Carolina.
At least two deaths had been linked to Hermine. Forecasters said the shore could expect additional rainfall of one inch or less.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has declared a state of emergency in three coastal counties and Delaware Governor Jack Markell has declared a limited state of emergency for Sussex County.
Forecasters expected Hermine to regain hurricane force on Sunday as it travels up the coast before weakening again to a tropical storm by Tuesday.
At 11 a.m. (1500 GMT), the center of the fourth named storm of the 2016 Atlantic hurricane season was just off the northern Outer Banks of North Carolina, with top winds strengthening slightly to near 65 miles per hour (100 kph), the hurricane center said. Authorities up and down the coast have ordered swimmers, surfers and boaters to stay out of treacherous waters during the holiday weekend, when many Americans celebrate the end of summer.
Instead, Sunday turned into a handsome day as the center of the storm moved further east than originally expected, according to the National Weather Service. Residents in the county were being urged to evacuate their homes Sunday afternoon as high tide threatened to bring even more water.
Sea level rise caused by climate change could mean the damage wrought by Post-Tropical Cyclone Hermine will be even greater than previous surges, scientists warned this weekend.
The winds became so strong Saturday that state transportation officials closed all bridges to North Carolina’s Outer Banks after a deadly accident over the intracoastal waterway.
On Saturday, high winds tipped over an 18-wheeler, killing its driver and shutting down the US 64 bridge in North Carolina’s Outer Banks.
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In the northern Florida town of Ocala, a falling tree killed a homeless man sleeping in his tent.
