New York City and US North-east brace themselves for flooding rains from weekend storm
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Drenching rain and strong winds will likely arrive in New York on Oct 12.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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New York City and the US North-east are in the crosshairs of a massive coastal storm that is poised to bring high winds, surging tides and heavy rain throughout the region starting Oct 12.
Drenching rain and strong winds will likely arrive in New York on Oct 12 as the storm develops off the coast this weekend, said Mr Bob Oravec, a senior branch forecaster with the US Weather Prediction Centre.
Coastal flood watches are in effect from Oct 12 morning through Oct 13 afternoon for New York and Long Island, as well as southern Connecticut and parts of New Jersey. At the Battery in Manhattan, tides may reach 1.1m above normal early on Oct 13, the weather service said.
While the storm won’t be a tropical system, it will still be “highly impactful”, Mr Oravec said.
These large storms can spawn widespread power outages from high winds, erode coastal areas as tides rise beyond normal levels and tie up ground and air transport throughout the most densely populated regions of the US.
With the storm lingering into Oct 13 and 14 across the North-east, it’s likely that its effects will still be felt as the work week begins.
Coastal areas from Maine to South Carolina may get from 5cm to 10cm of rain through the weekend into next week, according to the Weather Prediction Centre. There is also a chance of excessive rain from Boston to Cape Hatteras in North Carolina from Oct 12 to 13.
Along with the heavy rain, starting in Manhattan on Oct 12 afternoon and continuing through the next morning, there will be wind gusts up to 97kph along the shoreline.
The upside of the storm is that it will bring much needed-rain to Mid-Atlantic and North-east states, Mr Oravec said.
Across New York, nearly 66 per cent of the land is in drought, while neighbouring New England, Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire are completely parched. The US South-east is more than 45 per cent covered by drought.
“The one upside is that is going to bring some rain,” Mr Oravec said.
For New York, the worst of the storm should be over by Oct 12 and the system will be moving away from the north-east by Oct 13. BLOOMBERG
