Tropical Storm Hermine: Here’s what to expect

The animation showed the development of Hermine into a hurricane during the afternoon (EDT) of September 1, and landfall in Florida’s Big Bend around 2 a.m. EDT on September 2.

On Sept. 1 at 12:25 p.m. EDT (1625 UTC) the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument aboard NASA’s Terra satellite captured a visible image of Hermine as it was strengthening into a hurricane and headed toward the Florida coast for landfall.

Hermine weakened to a tropical storm Friday morning, just hours after making landfall on Florida’s Big Bend as a hurricane with high winds, heavy rain and almost 10 feet of storm surge. It’s about 60 miles southeast of St. Marks, where Hermine made landfall at 1:30 a.m.

Hermine (her-MEEN) quickly weakened to a tropical storm as it spun through Georgia and the Carolinas. This morning, Tropical Storm Hermine was located over southwestern Georgia with sustained winds at 70 miles per hour.

In Wakulla County, south of Tallahassee, at least seven homes were damaged by falling trees, said Scott Nelson, the county’s emergency manager. The system could then lash coastal areas as far north as CT and Rhode Island through Labor Day. “Life-threatening coastal flooding and rip currents will continue and we must all remain vigilant”.

Scott earlier urged residents along a stretch of the coast centered on the so-called Big Bend – the elbow where the state’s peninsula meets the Panhandle – to secure food and water. They were taken to a nearby shelter.

“If you don’t have to be out, don’t go out”, he said. “You can not rebuild a life”.

The National Weather Service said Hermine was expected to produce rainfall from 5 to 10 inches over much of northwest Florida and southern Georgia through Friday – with possible localized deluges of 20 inches.

A combination of a unsafe storm surge and rising tides will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded, it added.

The surge of ocean water could be as high as 9 feet above normal levels, forecasters said, as authorities warned its effect was not limited to Florida.

The National Hurricane Center said the risk of what it has been calling “life-threatening surge” and flooding continued even as the storm lost some of its punch. The driving winds were blowing hard at the trees and everything else.

Hermine was the first hurricane to hit Florida in more than a decade when it came ashore early Friday in the state’s Big Bend area.

After pushing into Georgia, Hermine is expected to move into the Carolinas and up the East Coast with the potential for drenching rain and deadly flooding.

As Hermine approached North Carolina on Friday morning, Gov.

In Georgia, Gov. Nathan Deal declared a state of emergency for 56 counties. A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect from north of Duck to Sandy Hook, New Jersey, the Chesapeake Bay from Smith Point southward and the southern Delaware Bay.

“This motion is expected to continue today and Saturday”, the center said.

In Florida’s capital, toppled trees in Tallahassee also downed power lines and injured people in their homes. “Once the winds subside and it’s safe, crews will begin assessing the damage and mobilize response and recovery efforts”.

“I kept hearing loud crashes on the roof like branches or something like that, but then I heard a huge thump”, she said, “and then I heard my children and some of the adults screaming”. “We have two boats in the boat house and I hope they’re still there”, she said.

Parks said her neighborhood has been left damaged.

“Trees and power lines are still going down”, she said. In Georgia, over 21,400 customers were cut off.

Georgia has declared a state of emergency in 56 counties, and North Carolina in 33 counties.

Hermine was likely to travel up the coast – perhaps as far as Boston by Monday.

A tropical storm warning was in effect from Nassau Sound to south of Fenwick Island in DE, for Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds, for the Chesapeake Bay from Drum Point southward, and the Tidal Potomac from Cobb Island eastward.

The area around Valdosta received about six inches of rain, with the storm sending a few hundred trees crashing down, some into houses and cars.