Deadly Hermine batters East Coast in trek north
OCEAN CITY, Md. — Hermine roared through communities along the Atlantic coast Saturday, battering beaches from the Outer Banks to the Delmarva Peninsula with blustery winds and rain, but sparing many areas inland.
Up to seven inches of rain fell, and 70 mph winds blew from North Carolina to the Eastern Shore, chasing vacationers and disrupting Labor Day weekend plans as the country bade farewell to the summer season.
The storm, moving northeast at 12 mph, was expected to possibly resume hurricane strength Sunday as it travels up the coast before weakening again to a tropical storm by Tuesday. The storm was centered about 175 miles southeast of Ocean City.
The National Weather Service posted stormwarnings and watches as far north as Cape Cod.
At least two deaths have been reported.
“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.
Hermine rose up over the Gulf of Mexico and hit Florida on Friday as a Category 1 hurricane beforeweakening to a tropical storm across Georgia.
Governors along the coast announced emergency preparations. Tropical storm warnings were in effect as far north as Connecticut.
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.
Michael Mann at Pennsylvania State University noted that this century’s one-foot sea-level rise in New York City meant 25 more square miles flooded during Superstorm Sandy, causing billions more in damage.
“We are already experiencing more and more flooding due to climate change in every storm,” said Michael Oppenheimer, a geosciences professor at PrincetonUniversity. “And it’s only the beginning.”
The winds and rainwere so strong Saturday inNorth Carolina that all bridges to the Outer Banks were closed for several hours following a deadly accident over the Intracoastal Waterway.
Tyrrell County Sheriff Darryl Liverman told The Virginian-Pilot that high winds tipped over an 18wheeler, killing its driver and shutting down the U.S. 64 bridge.
And on Hatteras Island in the Outer Banks, a small tornado spawned by Hermine knocked over two trailers and injured four people, authorities said.
Earlier in Florida, a homeless man died from a falling tree.
Hermine’s timing couldn’t beworse for coastal communities hoping for revenue from Labor Day events.
“This weekend would normally be a parking lot,” JimDerrick said.
His family businesses include a mini golf course, sea shell store, indoor bounce house and ice cream shop in Rehoboth Beach, Del.,
He called the weekend “definitely disappointing.”