East Coast rains & threat of Hurricane Joaquin to bring life-threatening floods

While it may still be too early to talk about specifics of this storm, it is not too early to prepare for the affects a hurricane like this could have on East Coast distributors. Otherwise, residents should stay at home and off roads. It began moving northward later in the day, the Hurricane Center said.

Friday’s forecast says between 1 and 2 inches are possible during the day and that will be followed by another three-quarters of an inch to an inch after dark.

Those heavy bouts of rainfall – five inches or more depending upon the site – earlier this week left the region inundated and saturated.

Annapolis officials say the city could experience minor flooding on Friday, and Hurricane Joaquin could exacerbate the problem.

In New England, hundreds of cars were damaged by high water around the region, with a few of them totaled and others needing expensive repairs, officials said Thursday.

In Virginia, the state Department of Transportation has temporarily suspended ferry service at the Jamestown-Scotland Ferry. The flooding threat will continue into next week as rainfall collects in swelling creeks and rivers.

“Those threats include very heavy rainfall, inland river flooding, as well as major coastal flooding with heavy surf and beach erosion”.

Forecasters warn the heavy rains in areas that have already seen a lot of rain could cause landslides sending debris including trees, rocks and mud down hillsides.

In addition to South Carolina, states of emergency were declared in Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Virginia.

The National Weather Service has issued flash flood watches for Washington, northern Virginia, central and southern Maryland and the Eastern Shore, but the timeline has been scaled back to Saturday morning.

Heavy equipment moves sand that was trucked in to the beach in the…

But no matter which way Joaquin heads, an area of low pressure in the Southeast and a front stalled over the East Coast will pull moisture from the Atlantic Ocean, causing rain Thursday through at least Saturday, said Bruce Terry, lead forecaster for the government’s Weather Prediction Center.

That would be before the potential main event – Hurricane Joaquin or its variant – gets anywhere near Philadelphia.

The Executive Order, retroactive to Tuesday, allows emergency responders to begin to prepare for the storms.

“There’s still a distinct possibility that his could make landfall somewhere in the USA”, said Dennis Feltgen, a meteorologist and hurricane centre spokesman.

Joaquin had maximum sustained winds of 130 mph (210 kph) and hurricane strength winds extending 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the eye, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

In South Carolina, 56-year-old Sylvia Arteaga was driving home after a night shift at Grace Management Group on Thursday morning when authorities said the floodwaters trapped her underneath a railroad bridge at the edge of Spartanburg.

North Carolina Highway Patrol Lt. Jeff Gordon said the fatal crash happened on Interstate 95 about 1:30 p.m. when a tree fell across the road, hitting two vehicles.

Gordon says the passenger in one of the vehicles died, and the driver was taken to the hospital.

There was no immediate word on his condition.

The driver of the second vehicle was not hurt.

Then overnight and on Thursday, more but not all computer simulations joined the European model in forecasting a push away from the coast. The 12 crew members were in a life raft and belonged to the Bolivian-flagged cargo ship Minouche. A good Samaritan vessel also diverted to the ship’s last known position. There were no major injuries reported.

A ferocious Hurricane Joaquin won’t make USA landfall, but it readies to send possibly historic floods to the East Coast this weekend, prompting four states to declare emergencies. The forecast track for Joaquin is uncertain at this time, but it is reasonably sure that the tropical system will have an impact on Delaware over the weekend.