Flooding from Hurricane Sally, a death in Paulette’s wake
Asbury Park, Sept. 15: A man has drowned at the New Jersey shore in seas churned as Hurricane Paulette battered Bermuda.
Lavallette Mayor Walter LaCicero told the Asbury Park Press that the 60-yearold man and his 24-yearold son were swimming near the Vance Avenue beach on Monday when they had trouble in the rough surf. They were rescued, but the older man did not survive. Their names have not been released. Officials closed beaches in nearby Seaside Heights after making about four water rescues on Monday. Neighbouring Seaside Park reported five rescues in a 3-hour span.
The National Weather
Service warned of a high rip current risk through Tuesday night.
Forecasters say Hurricane Sally could dump flooding rains on a path from Mississippi to the Carolinas this week after the storm makes landfall on the Gulf Coast. The National Weather Service says after the storm comes inland Wednesday, rainfall of 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) is likely across portions of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas. Significant flash flooding and minor to moderate river flooding is expected through the end of the week, and rainfall could reach 12 inches (30.5 centimetres) in isolated inland areas.
Hurricane Sally was creeping at 2 mph Tuesday toward the Gulf Coast morning, with landfall near the Mississippi-Alabama state line expected late Tuesday or early Wednesday. The storm was forecast to reach land as a Category
1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of
85 mph (137 kph). Sally was expected to weaken rapidly after coming ashore. The Florida Panhandle is being pummeled by heavy rains from Hurricane Sally’s outer bands. The powerful, plodding storm was crawling toward the northern Gulf Coast at 3 mph (4.8 kph) early Tuesday.
Its slow speed has raised concerns of extreme rainfall and flooding. Sally had winds of 100 mph, but forecasters were predicting the storm could strengthen even further before it is expected to blow ashore near the Mississippi-Alabama state line late Tuesday or early Wednesday. Florida’s governor declared an emergency in two western Panhandle counties. President Donald Trump issued an emergency declaration for Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
Hurricane warnings had stretched from Grand Isle, Louisiana to Navarre, Florida, but forecasters, while stressing “significant” uncertainty, kept nudging the predicted track eastward, easing fears in New Orleans, which was once in
Sally’s crosshairs. Stacy Stewart, a senior specialist with the National Hurricane Center, said Tuesday that people should take the storm seriously since “devastating” rainfall is expected in large areas. People could drown in the flooding, he said.
“This is going to be historic flooding along with the historic rainfall,” Stewart said. “If people live near rivers, small streams and creeks, they need to go somewhere else.” It was moving at only 2 mph (4 kph) before dawn on Tuesday, centered about
115 miles south-southeast of Biloxi, Mississippi, and
60 miles east-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River.