Nor’easter will bring rain, winds and flooding to the East Coast throughout the weekend
Parts of New Jersey were already being hit by rough surf Friday morning, with videos showing waves crashing along the shore.
“The waves, the actions of the waves, the way they come, they take away everything in their path,” said Mike Jones, emergency management director for Upper Township, New Jersey. “And there’s really no way to stop Mother Nature.”
A full moon Saturday night is also expected to raise tides by as much as 5 to 6 inches.
One New Jersey resident said she closed her entire house to prepare.
Outside of Washington, abnormally high tides were observed along the Potomac River, flooding roads with floodwaters. Oceans Calling, a popular three-day music festival in Ocean City, Maryland, has been canceled.
In North Carolina, winds in excess of 50 mph were recorded. Video showed a car in the state nearly swept into the ocean before a tow truck rescued it.
Nor’easters are so called because the wind that blows on the east coast of the United States comes from the northeast. Cold air comes from southern Canada and creates a storm when it meets warmer ocean waters in the Atlantic, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
They are more frequent and more violent between September and April, and they “almost always bring precipitation in the form of heavy rain or snow,” it says.
Hurricane Nolo moves to category 2
Meanwhile, Hurricane Nolo is heading toward Hawaii with winds of 105 mph. It was a Category 2 storm Friday and was moving north at 3 mph. At some point over the weekend, it is expected to become a major hurricane, downgraded to Category 3 or 4.
The storm will stay south of Hawaii, forecasters say, but it will still affect the Big Island and Maui.
Outer bands of rain were affecting the Big Island around 5 p.m. local time (11 p.m. ET), and the island could receive up to 16 inches of rain, the National Hurricane Center warned. Hawaii residents are preparing for the worst and expecting catastrophic flooding.
“Nolo is expected to strengthen into a major hurricane this weekend, and could further intensify early next week,” the NHC said in a statement.
Last month, Hurricane Lala wreaked havoc on the Big Island of Hawaii, damaging more than 100 homes and stranding people without water or power.
Besides dangerous waves and damaging winds, mudslides are a major concern in the state.
By Thursday evening, stores were out of stock of generators and cans of gasoline. Shops were barricaded and blocked with sandbags. Schools were released Thursday to give residents more time to prepare.
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