Hurricane Joaquin
Five East Coast states declared a state of emergency in anticipation of the impact of flooding, strong winds and power outages because of Hurricane Joaquin. Even without the Category 4 storm making landfall it is expected to be very damaging.
For days, various computer models showed Joaquin hitting North Carolina's Outer Banks, New Jersey, New York's Long Island or Cape Cod, Massachusetts. But on Friday, October 2, 2015, with Joaquin over the Bahamas, U.S. National Hurricane Center director Rick Knabb said the hurricane was no longer expected to make a direct hit on the U.S.
Here, Joaquin is seen over the Bahamas in the Atlantic Ocean in this NOAA GOES East satellite image taken at 08:45 ET (12:45 GMT) October 2, 2015. Joaquin pounded the Bahamas for a second day with powerful winds and waves.
Hurricane Joaquin
A motorcyclist navigates through flood waters in Garden City Beach, South Carolina, October 2, 2015.
Category 4 Hurricane Joaquin is now moving northward and has started bringing swells to parts of the southeastern coast of the United States, the National Hurricane Center said on Friday. Though the hurricane is expected to pass well offshore of the East Coast it doesn't mean the danger is over.
Hurricane Joaquin
The Potomac River surges over Great Falls in Virginia October 2, 2015.
Powerful Hurricane Joaquin battered the Bahamas with torrential rain, powerful winds and storm surges on October 1. East Coast states braced for more downpours over the coming weekend with Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia under states of emergency.
Hurricane Joaquin
Waves crash against the sea wall in front of an apartment building as a nor'easter comes on shore in Atlantic City, New Jersey, October 2, 2015.
Many feared Hurricane Joaquin would mix with the heavy rainstorms and cause further damage.
Hurricane Joaquin
Alexandria, Virginia public works employees distribute sandbags for local citizens on October 2, 2015.
Virginia, among several other east coast states, declared a state of emergency in anticipation of the impact of flooding, strong winds and power outages. E
Hurricane Joaquin
Alexandria, Virginia public works employees distribute sandbags for local citizens on October 2, 2015.
Hurricane Joaquin
Waves crash over the sea wall as a truck drives down a flooded street as a nor'easter comes on shore in Atlantic City, New Jersey, October 2, 2015.
Hurricane Joaquin
Alexandria, Virginia public works employees and volunteers distribute sandbags for local citizens on October 2, 2015.
Hurricane Joaquin
A patron departs from a Starbucks that is fortified with sandbags in Alexandria, Virginia October 2, 2015.
Hurricane Joaquin
Early morning image of Hurricane Joaquin taken by astronaut Scott Kelly from the International Space Station, October 2, 2015.
Hurricane Joaquin
Perry Williams, 47, left, and Alaric Nixon, 28, place sandbags on the storefront of Diamond's International store, in preparation for the arrival of hurricane Joaquin in Nassau, Bahamas, Thursday, October 1, 2015.
Joaquin unleashed heavy flooding as it roared through sparsely populated islands in the eastern Bahamas as a Category 4 storm, with forecasters warning it could grow even stronger before carving a path that would take it near the U.S. East Coast.
Hurricane Joaquin
Flood waters enveloped this neighborhood in the Strathmere section of Upper Township New Jersey on Friday October 2, 2015.
Despite forecasts showing the impending Hurricane Joaquin may move out to sea and not directly strike New Jersey, crews along the shore were nonetheless taking precautions against flooding from a wind and rainstorm that preceded Joaquin and that was causing some flooding in southern New Jersey on Friday.