Hurricane Lee churns towards New England, eastern Canada
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Mr Cameron O'Neal (right) helps Mr Brian Ciome pull his skiff out of the ocean, in Stonington, Maine, in preparation for Hurricane Lee's arrival.
PHOTO: AFP
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WASHINGTON - Hurricane Lee barrelled across the North Atlantic towards New England and Eastern Canada on Friday, threatening to bring drenching rains, powerful winds and a life-threatening storm surge to the region over the weekend.
Lee is expected to weaken into a strong tropical storm before making landfall in south-western Nova Scotia as a strong tropical storm late on Saturday, the Canadian Hurricane Centre said.
Even so, the storm has the potential to dump as much as 10cm of rain and produce winds of up to 97kmh an hour in some spots, prompting United States and Canadian officials to urge residents to prepare for possible flooding and power outages.
“Please plan ahead to stay indoors if possible on Saturday, and check on your loved ones and neighbours,” Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said, in a statement to the city’s 650,000 residents.
Some eight million Americans in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine were under a tropical storm warning, with conditions in those states expected to deteriorate on Friday and into Saturday, the US National Weather Service (NWS) said.
In Canada, more than a million people in Nova Scotia and eastern New Brunswick were also under a tropical storm warning as the massive storm crawls northward over the open waters of the Atlantic.
“Heavy rainfall rates and potential gusty winds are our largest concern for inland areas, with the addition of high surf and minor inundation along the coast,” the NWS said on Facebook on Friday.
Some spots, such as Cape Cod in Massachusetts and eastern Halifax County in Nova Scotia may see storm surge of up to 91cm, forecasters said.
As of Friday morning, the storm was about 785km south-east of the Massachusetts island of Nantucket as it moved north at about 25kmh. It was expected to pick up speed and weaken through the day, the weather service said.
Mr Charlie Beam (above) removes his boat from the ocean, in preparation for Hurricane Lee’s arrival.
PHOTO: AFP
Lee is the latest storm in what is proving to be a busy hurricane season that has featured a higher-than-average number of named storms.
Just two weeks ago, on Aug 30, Hurricane Idalia slammed into Florida’s Gulf Coast.
