Later in the day, however, Christie ordered Island Beach State Park to be reopened for Labor Day, as the latest National Weather Service bulletins indicated the storm appeared to be continuing to move farther offshore.
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The storm, which crossed northern Florida and then moved up the Georgia and the Carolina coasts, was packing sustained surface winds of up to 70 miles per hour (110 kph) with higher gusts, the National Weather Service said.
The biggest remaining threat is from storm surge – which could push tides well above normal at the beaches Sunday night into Monday and create some flooding issues.
Hermine, a storm that raked Florida with hurricane-force winds last week, drifted far off the U.S. East Coast on Monday, sparing the Middle Atlantic states but forcing some beach closures.
Warnings of potentially unsafe riptides temporarily cleared the water Monday, but surfers returned to the water in Atlantic City by the afternoon. NY officials extended beach closures beyond Labor Day because of continued deadly rip currents.
Hermine roared through communities along the Atlantic coast Saturday, battering beaches from the Outer Banks to the Delmarva Peninsula with blustery winds and rain.
Millions of residents, from Virginia to New England, are expected to remain under tropical storm watches and warnings for the rest of Labor Day weekend as post-cyclone Hermine meanders up the Eastern Seaboard.
“That strengthening could impact places from Nantucket, Cape Cod, New York City, even up and down the New Jersey coast”, said CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar.
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. “It’s going to be sitting over water temperatures that are supportive of hurricane formation”.
Hermine, despite getting a title change on Saturday from a tropical storm to a post tropical storm, was still a strong system with 70 miles per hour winds. “Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 205 miles from the center”, the NWS said, adding that the storm could reach hurricane strength again within the next two days.
Hermine has caused two deaths, inflicted widespread property damage and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people from Florida to Virginia.
Then it was expected to turn to the north-northwest and continue slowly in that direction through Monday.
Emergency officials gained access to the FEMA broadcast system after 2012, when Superstorm Sandy caused major devastation, flooding and even deaths across Long Island and throughout NY and New Jersey.
Some passengers were reportedly feeling a bit sick to their stomachs as the Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas sailed through rough seas amid Tropical Storm Hermine, CBS New York reported. Three more people were injured in the county when a tornado touched down and damaged trailer homes, according to the NWS. Many beaches in New Jersey and NY plan to close Monday.
On Friday, before hitting the Atlantic, Hermine rolled out of the Gulf of Mexico and across northern Florida as the first hurricane to hit the state in over a decade.
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Due to expected severe rip currents, marine officials also expect to fly double red flags at island beaches Sunday indicating they are closed to swimming, Lucey said.
