Hurricane Irene is poised to become the strongest storm to strike the US East Coast in the last 70 years. Evacuation efforts are underway along the North Carolina coast and Outer Banks, where Irene is expected to make landfall as a major Category 3 hurricane sometime on Saturday, and a recent shift in her course could mean serious trouble for New York City and New England by Sunday.
The National Hurricane Center says that there is “significant uncertainty” about exactly how strong Irene will be when she does make landfall, but its current predicted path could mean a lot of trouble from the Carolinas to Maine.
A hurricane watch is in effect across the North Carolina coast to the border of Virginia, with a tropical storm watch in effect for much of the South Carolina coastline. Irene could conceivably cause problems for every state from South Carolina north.
On her present course, Irene could strike New York City as a Category 2 storm sometime late Sunday, with sustained winds of 96 mph. The end result could be severe flooding in the Big Apple on the scale of five or more feet. The storm could also cause widespread tree damage, major power outages, and structural damage to buildings and homes. New York skyscrapers could see large numbers of windows blown out.
Damaging winds of between 40-70 mph will extend 150 miles west and 250 miles east from the storm’s center. Up to 8 inches of rain could be dumped along the storm’s predicted path.
Recent storms in many areas along Irene’s path have left the ground saturated, and flooding concerns are major since any excess water will have no place to go. The drainage systems in Philadelphia and New York City are almost certain to be overwhelmed.
Boats docked along the Mid-Atlantic and New England coasts should be moved, as storm surges are predicted to be severe, and some of these boats could wind up beached several miles inland.
On Thursday, Irene moved across the Bahamas, dumping more than a foot of rain and producing dangerous storm surge.
Water Damage Local.com advises people in the path of this storm to evacuate if at all possible. Simply getting out of the storm’s way is the easiest and safest course of action.
Attempting to ride out a storm is ill advised. The risk of injury or death is great, and if you are injured,
extreme conditions may make it impossible for paramedics or fire fighters to reach you. Don’t put yourself or them in that position.
Instead, be prepared to leave before things get bad. Have evacuation bags, or “go bags” prepared for each family member, each containing a change of clothes for several days in a motel or shelter, non-perishable food, bottled water, ID and other important documents, plenty of cash, as well as first aid supplies and a battery powered radio (with extra batteries). Use it to keep abreast of rapidly changing weather conditions.
Water Damage Local.com is a national network of IICRC certified water restoration providers. Available 24/7, they are equipped to handle even the largest flood damage or other water damage issues.
Call today for a peace of mind tomorrow…
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