Joaquin becomes a hurricane, could impact NC by weekend

The centre of the storm was about 20 miles north of Samana Cays, Bahamas, and moving west-southwest at 5mph.

Airmen and volunteers place sandbags outside of a building at Langley Air Force Base Thursday afternoon, October 1, 2015, as heavy rain falls in Hampton, Va. The base will be closed to all non-mission essential personnel beginning Friday morning. Three to five inches are possible over the southeastern Bahamas through Friday, forecasters said.

Almost every state from North Carolina to Connecticut was in the so-called “cone of uncertainty”.

A cool and wet weather pattern is setting up over the Baltimore area, keeping rain in the forecast through the weekend as Hurricane Joaquin is expected to approach the East Coast this weekend. “I’m not here to say Sandy II is coming”. “No one really knows at this point where the storm’s going to go”.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters the Federal Emergency Management Agency had increased staffing at its 24-hour National Watch Center in Washington, D.C. and has teams deployed or preparing to deploy to potentially affected areas.

Flinn said that PEMA is in frequent communication with both FEMA and the National Hurricane Center in order to closely track the storm’s movement.

The new path takes the storm anywhere from the Carolinas to New England.

Secure your belongings and EPIRBs: Owners of larger boats are urged to move their boats to inland marinas where they will be less vulnerable to breaking free of their moorings or damage. Probability of landfall on East coast diminishing Hurricane Joaquin will still be a unsafe storm, regardless of if it makes landfall or stays out to sea.

Hurricanes and tropical storms are categorized by how strong the winds are and while we can still get strong and damaging winds it’s usually inland flooding that causes the most problems for us here in western Massachusetts.

Naples Herald will continue to monitor Joaquin and will report new information as it becomes available.

According to Bahamas Press, there’s already a few flooding happening on Acklins Island, which is on the southern eyewall.

Earlier Thursday, the Bahamian government issued a tropical storm warning for the Turks and Caicos islands. Recently upgraded to a Category 4, Hurricane Joaquin is now churning over the Bahamas with sustained wind speeds of about 130 miles per hour. This should produce historic rain totals over parts of the Mid-Atlantic United States.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has lowered water levels at Lake Drummond to mitigate flooding in the Great Dismal Swamp.

– Many areas of the eastern US are now getting hit by heavy rains and gusty winds associated with a cold front.