Hermine threatens East Coast after slamming Florida

DEKLE BEACH, Fla. - The first hurricane to hit Florida in more than a decade wiped away beachside buildings and toppled trees onto homes Friday before plowing inland on a path that could send it rolling up the densely populated East Coast with heavy rain, high winds and flooding.

Hermine quickly weakened to a tropical storm as it spun through Georgia and the Carolinas. But the National Hurricane Center predicted it would regain hurricane strength after emerging over the Atlantic Ocean. The system could then lash coastal areas as far north as Connecticut and Rhode Island through Labor Day.

“Anyone along the U.S. East Coast needs to be paying close attention this weekend,” said Dennis Feltgen, a spokesman for the National Hurricane Center.

He said Hermine could become a post-tropical storm as it nears New Jersey, New York and Connecticut on Sunday, but he pointed out Sandy did the same in 2012 and still caused extensive damage.

In Florida, Hermine’s main impact came in the form of power outages and damage from storm surges. A homeless man south of Gainesville died when a tree fell on him, Gov. Rick Scott said.

He later took to a Blackhawk helicopter to visit the coastal communities of Cedar Key and Steinhatchee hit hard by the damage from flooding and storm surge that crumpled docks and washed out homes and businesses.

Scott pledged that businesses would be eligible for help from the state. But it’s unclear whether Florida will get any federal disaster assistance as the state begins to clean up from the storm.

An estimated 325,000 people were without power statewide and more than 107,000 in neighboring Georgia, officials said.

At 11 p.m., the hurricane center said the tropical storm’s center was about 30 miles west-southwest of Wilmington, North Carolina. Forecasters said the storm threatens a dangerous storm surge into Hampton Roads in southeast Virginia. Hermine had top sustained winds of 50 mph and was moving northeast at 22 mph.

Eric Fisher, chief meteorolgist for WBZ Boston, says the storm is expected to stall a bit after it crosses North Carolina and heads back into open water. The storm could generate wind and rain and storm surge for a large section of the New Jersey and New York coastlines into next week. 

“There’s a big complicating factor with this storm,” said Fisher, noting that it could strengthen again into a hurricane as it stalls off New Jersey. Hermine could also bring the worst flooding to the New England coast since Super Storm Sandy in 2012.

Tropical storm watches and warnings were posted up and down the coastline. New York City is banning swimming at its beaches Sunday, and possibly longer, because there may be dangerous riptides as Hermine spins offshore.

Hermine is disrupting the travel plans of some 15.6 million people who are flying this weekend. Major airlines are dropping fees for travelers who wish to change their plans.

Amtrak says it has canceled or altered some service on the East Coast as the storm approaches.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday that bridge closures and other measures could also be ordered as the storm evolves.

He warned New Yorkers to brace for heavy rains, strong winds and flooding in some coastal areas from late Saturday through Wednesday.

De Blasio calls Hermine “very troubling” and urges New Yorkers to take the storm seriously.

In Virginia, Gov. Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency.

At news conference Friday afternoon, McAuliffe warned that Hermine could bring “life-threatening” storm surges to the eastern part of the state, including heavily populated areas such as Virginia Beach.

McAuliffe said forecasters predict waves as high as 8 feet and storm surges up to 4 feet this weekend. McAuliffe added that 10 inches of rain could also pour down over the course of two days.

Virginia is deploying 270 members of the National Guard to prepare for flooding and power outages. Cities such as Norfolk and Virginia Beach are often plagued with flooding in low-lying areas and are increasingly vulnerable to sea-level rise.

Back in Florida, a storm surge at Dekle Beach damaged numerous homes and destroyed storage buildings and a 100-yard fishing pier. The area is about 60 miles southeast of St. Marks, where Hermine made landfall at 1:30 a.m. in the Big Bend area, where Florida’s peninsula and panhandle meet.

Nancy Geohagen walked around collecting photos and other items for her neighbors after the storm scattered them.

“I know who this baseball bat belongs to,” she said plucking it from a pile of debris.

An unnamed spring storm that hit the beach in 1993 killed 10 people who refused to evacuate. This time, only three residents stayed behind. All escaped injury.

In nearby Steinhatchee, a storm surge crashed into Bobbi Pattison’s home. She wore galoshes and was covered in black muck as she stood in her living room amid overturned furniture and an acrid smell. Tiny crabs darted around her floor.

“I had a hurricane cocktail party last night and God got even with me,” she said with a chuckle. Where her bar once stood was now only wet sand and rubble. Pattison and two neighbors managed to set upright a large wooden statue of a sea captain she had carved from wood that washed ashore in the 1993 storm.

In Keaton Beach, about two dozen people waited on a road just after sunrise Friday, trying to get to their homes. Police blocked the road because of flooding.

Dustin Beach, 31, rushed there from a hospital in Tallahassee where his wife gave birth to a girl Thursday night to see if his home still stood.

“When my wife got up this morning, she said, ‘Go home and check on the house. I need to know where we’re going after we leave the hospital,’” Beach said.

Cindy Simpson was waiting near her car, hoping her beach home and boats survived. “It’s a home on stilts so I put everything upstairs. We have two boats in the boat house, and I hope they’re still there,” she said.

High winds knocked trees onto several houses in Tallahassee, injuring people inside.

It was sometime after midnight when Alan Autry, 48, started hearing the large pines in his Tallahassee neighborhood start to crack and fall to the ground.

Then he heard one come down on the top floor of his house. The tree didn’t initially crash through the roof, and Autry and his wife went to a neighbor’s house. Sometime before dawn, the corner of his house collapsed from the weight of the tree.

“We’ve been married 13 years and this is our fifth hurricane,” said Autry who moved from central Florida six years ago. “By far, this is the worst damage we’ve ever had.”

Tampa and St. Petersburg escaped major damage. Up to 17 inches of rain fell in the area over the last two days.

The last hurricane to strike Florida was Wilma, a powerful Category 3 storm that arrived on Oct. 24, 2005. It swept across the Everglades and struck heavily populated south Florida, causing five deaths in the state and an estimated $23 billion in damage.

The Florida governor declared an emergency in 51 counties and said about 6,000 National Guardsmen stood ready to mobilize for the storm’s aftermath. The governors of Georgia and North Carolina also declared emergencies.