The system picked up strength as it churned hundreds of miles off shore in the Atlantic Ocean. That’s only 4 miles per hour below hurricane force.
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Looking ahead, Peck says, “While the storm track has shifted to the east, Hermine is still slowing down and will meander for the next few days off the coast”.
“This is not a beach weekend for anyone in the Mid-Atlantic to the northeast”, said Eric Blake, a hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
The storm, classified as a category one hurricane until it lost power as it cut a path of destruction through Florida and Georgia, was expected to linger off the coast between Virginia and NY for days. Video courtesy Daniel Martinko. “I urge all residents and visitors in low-laying coastal areas to be vigilant of flooding during high tide and to check local weather reports before heading out to Labor Day celebrations tomorrow”. “It was frightful”, she said. But the water did not seep into any homes that she’s aware of.
“We just were amazed”, she told CBS News.
North Carolina’s Emergency Management office warned of strong rip currents, high seas and beach erosion during the holiday weekend as Hermine moved through the area.
The good news, according to the weather service, is that there is no significant rainfall or damaging wind gusts expected on Sunday.
New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio closed city beaches Sunday and said that could extend to Labor Day or Tuesday.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said in a statement on Saturday that “the impending weather conditions constitute an imminent hazard”. “Don’t think that nothing is going to happen, because something is going to happen”.
“Anyone along the U.S. East Coast needs to be paying close attention this weekend”, said Dennis Feltgen, a spokesman for the National Hurricane Center.
Overnight, four people suffered minor injuries when a tornado hit a campground in Hatteras Village, Dare County, North Carolina, officials said.
At least two people have died from the storm. Residents in states as far north as CT are expected to feel its damaging impact.
On Sunday, Dominion Virginia Power said crews were working to restore power to about 5,000 customers in North Carolina and 1,500 in southeast Virginia. It also spawned a tornado in North Carolina.
The winds from Post Tropical Storm Hermine are expected to get stronger as the day goes on, Meteorologist Mike Cameron said on Monday.
Almost 80,000 utility customers in Florida were still without electricity, according to the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
As of Sunday afternoon, Hermine was at sea about 350 miles east of Maryland and south of Long Island, with 70-mph winds generating waves that have pounded the Eastern Seaboard. Also, the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation closed all ocean beaches on Long Island to swimmers Sunday, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s office announced.
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“The combination of a storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline”.
