Dangerous Surf: Hermine Still a Threat as It Churns Off East Coast
09-05-2016
Forecasters say a weakening Hermine has spun away from the East Coast, but it still has enough power to whip up dangerous waves and rip currents during the Labor Day weekend.
The former hurricane killed two people after coming ashore in Florida, then continued up the coast and battered the Northeast.
One coastal resident said, "You can feel it in the house, when the waves hit, the pilings shake."
Now a post-tropical cyclone out in the Atlantic, Hermine is churning up dangerous waves and potentially life threatening rip currents.
"Lifeguards have been very careful at keeping people out of the water," one official said.
Governors along the Eastern Seaboard have taken emergency precautions. New York City beaches are being shut down for the second day in a row. And New Jersey has declared a state of emergency in some coastal counties.
Crews have been working through the weekend building up sand dunes to keep the storm surge at bay.
Hermine slammed into Florida Friday as a Category 1 hurricane with 80 mile per hour winds, knocking down trees and power lines and causing death.
"I looked out my window and there was an ocean outside," one Pasco County, Florida, woman told a reporter.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott spent Sunday morning meeting with emergency managers in flooded Pasco County, where rising waters led to several forced evacuations.
"There's still a lot of water that needs to move through our county and so we're not out of the woods yet," Pasco County Commissioner Kathryn Starkey warned.
After leaving Florida, Hermine delivered high winds and torrential rain to Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia, leaving some entire neighborhoods underwater and creating a giant sinkhole in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Meteorologists warn that Hermine could regain hurricane strength as it meanders out in the Atlantic. Officials are urging people to use caution and stay out of the water, as the threat of potentially deadly rip currents remains extremely high.
