NEW YORK, Sept. 4 (UPI) — Hermine is not done yet. Downgraded to a tropical cyclone, the storm is creeping to the northeastern United States and could strengthen back in to a hurricane.
“This storm is not done yet,” said Ari Sarsalari, a meteorologist for The Weather Channel. “It’s going to get worse over the next couple of days.”
Hermine, the first hurricane to strike Florida in 11 years, could recover to hurricane strength by Monday evening, the National Hurricane Center said. Already, tropical storm watches and warnings are blanketing the coast from Jacksonville, N.C., to Portsmouth, N.H., NBC News reported.
Even before that happens, this storm is creating havoc as it travels north. A family evacuating the Outer Banks in North Carolina Saturday captured on video a semi tractor trailer in front of them overturn on the Virginia Dare Memorial Bridge.
As the bridge was pounded with high winds, Ashlyn Gonzalez and her family watched the Harris-Teeter truck swaying back and forth. Gonzalez began recording it and the family watched in horror, screaming as the trailer’s back wheels left the pavement and the entire truck overturned on to its side, CBS6 TV reported.”
“Oh my God. Oh my God!,” one child is heard screaming. “I’m so scared!”
The family was headed back to Florida after a vacation when the accident occurred. The trucking company said the driver was not seriously injured.
In advance of the storm’s march northward, all New York City and Long Island beaches, as well as Rehoboth Beach, Del. will be closed Sunday, thwarting beach plans for tens of thousands on Labor Day weekend.
A Bruce Springsteen concert scheduled for Saturday in Virginia Beach, Va., was rescheduled for Monday.
The Hyannis Yacht Club in Massachusetts evacuated all boats on its docks Saturday and then dismantled the docks to ensure no one would use them.
An area of high pressure over Canada is blocking the system, but Hermine still may be churning off the coast as late as Thursday, Sarsalari said.
Hermine is expected to remain offshore, but “it’s just going to sit here, spin counterclockwise and produce a ton of wind that’s going to blow pretty much directly on shore,” Sarsalari said.
The storm was about 295 miles east-southeast of Ocean City, Md. at 8 a.m. Sunday with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph, the National Hurricane Center said. It is expected to strengthen as it heads north. The hurricane center is predicting dangerous storm surges from Virginia to New Jersey by Monday.
