Tag Archives: National Hurricane Center

Hermine hammers Florida, leaving thousands without power

Three storm systems

(Updates with Hermine being downgraded to tropical storm)

By Letitia Stein

TAMPA, Fla., Sept 2 (Reuters) – Wind and rain from Hurricane
Hermine slammed Florida’s northern Gulf Coast before it weakened
to a tropical storm and ploughed its way overland towards the
Atlantic Coast on Friday.

Hermine made landfall early on Friday, bringing heavy rains
and packing winds of 80 mph (130 km/h), causing damage and
leaving tens of thousands of households without power along
Florida’s Gulf Coast.

“It is a mess…we have high water in numerous places,”
Virgil Sandlin, the police chief in Cedar Key, Florida, told the
Weather Channel.

Strong gusts downed power lines and trees as widespread
flooding inundated communities in Florida before the hurricane
weakened into a tropical storm as it reached Georgia and South
Carolina, where conditions deteriorated early on Friday morning.

“The combination of a dangerous storm surge and the tide
will continue to cause normally dry areas near the coast to be
flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline,”
the National Hurricane Center said.

The center warned that some areas along Florida’s northern
Gulf Coast may experience 9 feet (3 m) of flooding.

Florida Governor Rick Scott said the storm could lead to
deaths and told residents to stay indoors until it had passed.

Pasco County reported crews rescued 18 people and brought
them to shelters after their homes were flooded in Green Key and
Hudson Beach early on Friday.

“Stay indoors even if it calm outside. The eye of Hermine
may be passing through. Let it pass completely before surveying
any damage,” Governor Scott advised residents in a Twitter post.

Hermine became the fourth hurricane of the 2016 Atlantic
storm season. By 11 p.m. EDT, maximum winds were listed at 80
mph (130 kph), with hurricane-force winds extending up to 45
miles (75 km) from the storm’s center.

Hermine could dump as much as 20 inches (51 cm) of rain in
some parts of the state. Ocean storm surge could swell as high
as 12 feet (3.6 meters).

Scott declared a state of emergency in 51 of Florida’s 67
counties, and at least 20 counties closed schools.

Mandatory evacuations were ordered in parts of five counties
in northwestern Florida, with voluntary evacuations in at least
three more counties. Twenty emergency shelters were opened
across the state for those displaced by the storm.

“This is life-threatening,” Scott told reporters on
Thursday.

In coastal Franklin County, people were evacuated from
barrier islands and low-lying shore areas.

“Those on higher ground are stocking up and hunkering down,”
Pamela Brownlee, the county’s emergency management director,
said.

The National Weather Service issued tornado and tropical
storm watches and warnings for communities throughout northern
Florida and north along Atlantic Coast, where it posed a Labor
Day weekend threat for tens of millions of people.

On its current path, the storm also could dump as much as 10
inches (25 cm) of rain on coastal areas of Georgia, which was
under a tropical storm watch, and the Carolinas. Forecasters
warned of “life-threatening” floods and flash floods there.

The governors of Georgia and North Carolina on Thursday
declared emergencies in affected regions. In South Carolina, the
low-lying coastal city of Charleston was handing out sandbags.

(Additional reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee, Laila
Kearney in New York and Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Editing by
Angus MacSwan)

Tropical Storm Patricia Strengthens to Hurricane; Hurricane Warning Issued for Mexican Coast

U.S. forecasters reported to the AFP on Thursday that Tropical Storm Patricia was upgraded to a hurricane. The National Hurricane Center located in Miami is warning residents in the area to prepare.

Hurricane Patricia is expected to make landfall on Friday, bringing damaging winds around 100 miles per hour and flash flooding to the area.

The Weather Channel reports, as of 10:00 a.m. CDT, Hurricane Patricia was 240 miles south-southwest of Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico and 285 miles south of Manzanillo, Mexico. The storm is moving at a speed of 26 kilometers per hour and is heading west-northwest according to the National Hurricane Center.

The Mexican coastal area between Cabo Corrientes and Punta San Telmo has been issued a hurricane warning, and surrounding areas have been issued a hurricane watch, tropical storm watch, and tropical storm warning.

Forecasters told AFP that Hurricane Patricia is expected to accumulate 6 to 12 inches of rain and some isolated incidents may see up to 20 inches of rain.

Category 4 Storm, Hurricane Joaquin, Slamming Bahamas; East Coast Prepares for Flooding

Hurricane Joaquin, a powerful Category 4 storm, has stalled over the central Bahamas, slamming the islands with hurricane-force winds, torrential rain, and storm surge flooding.

Dozens of citizens are trapped within their homes and authorities are not able to reach them. All schools in the Bahamas are closed. Homes have been flooded and roofs have been taken off buildings. So far, there have been no reports of casualties in the Bahamas according to Capt. Stephen Russell, the director of the Bahamas National Emergency Management Agency.

Christian minister Dawn Taylor who is located on Eluthera stated that faith would get them through the storm.

“We depend on our God, and as long as he is with us, we will be fine and we will ride out the storm,” she said.

A U.S. Coast Guard container ship has also gone missing after getting caught in Joaquin’s path. The El Faro was traveling to San Juan, Puerto Rico from Jacksonville, Florida and reportedly was stuck somewhere near Crooked Island in the Bahamas. The ship has 33 crew members on board. The Coast Guard told CNN that when they last heard, the ship had been taking on water, but the flooding had been contained. As of right now, communications with the ship have stopped. The Air Force has been helping with the search for the missing ship and crew.

Hurricane Joaquin is not expected to make landfall on the U.S. but five East Coast states have still declared a state of emergency for potential torrential rain and severe flooding. Two lives have been claimed by the storm in the Carolinas where heavy rain has fallen for days. Four inches of rain was dumped in South Carolina causing flash floods that submerged several cars.

The National Hurricane Center reported to Fox News that the storm could near the U.S. East Coast on Sunday or Monday. The storm is expected to make a significant turn to the north on Friday and Saturday, leaving the Bahamas by late Friday evening.

Tropical Storm Erika Forms in Atlantic

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) has confirmed the presence of a new named storm in the Atlantic Ocean.

Tropical Storm Erika has sustained winds of 45 m.p.h. and as of noon eastern time was about 700 miles east of the Leeward Islands with a westward path at 20 m.p.h.

A tropical storm watch has been posted throughout the region for islands that are in desperate need of rain because of a sustained drought.  However, the storm is expected to continue to gain strength and reach hurricane status.

Forecast models are showing extremely different paths for the storm, from dissipating before making significant landfall to becoming a huge Category 4 storm that would strike South Carolina.

Erika is the fifth named storm in the Atlantic during the 2015 storm season.  Danny was the only storm to reach hurricane status, peaking as a Category 3 storm.  Danny dissipated on Monday because of a dry air mass moving across the region.

The NHC said the Air Force’s Hurricane Hunters are going to make a mass through the storm and provide feedback on the storm’s intensity.

Tropical Storm Danny Upgraded to Hurricane Status

The first named hurricane of the Atlantic storm season is officially Hurricane Danny.

The storm was upgraded to Hurricane status earlier Thursday by the National Hurricane Center who said that storm is now packing sustained winds of 75 m.p.h., the lowest threshold for a storm to be considered a hurricane.

Forecasters expect Danny to remain a weak hurricane as it continues a westward path.  The storm is expected to hit the Lesser Antilles on Monday morning and then bring heavy rain to Puerto Rico the following day.

It’s too early for forecast models to say if the storm would reach the United States or if the storm will dissipate after making landfall in Puerto Rico.

Hurricane expert Michael Lowry did tell the Weather Channel that the storm was much more solidly organized Thursday than it had been in the previous few days.

Tropical Storm Gonzalo Aiming For Puerto Rico

Tropical Storm Gonzalo is strengthening in the Caribbean and is on a collision course with Puerto Rico.

Gonzalo is packing sustained winds of 50 miles per hour and was moving west around 11 miles per hour.  Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center say Gonzalo could reach hurricane strength some time during the day Tuesday.

A hurricane watch is in effect for the U.S. and British Virgin Islands along with Puerto Rico.

The NHC expects at least 8 inches of rain possible for areas within the path of the storm bringing heavy flooding and landslides.  Some isolated areas could receive as much as 12 inches of rain.

Puerto Rico is home to 3.6 million people.