'Superstorm' Forms
Northeast Braces as Hurricane Wilma Is Expected to Combine With Two Other Storms
Oct. 25, 2005 Hurricane Wilma may not be done yet.
After pummeling Florida on Monday, forecasters say Wilma is expected to combine with two other storms in the Atlantic to create a powerful nor'easter that could drench the Northeast today with high winds, heavy rains and even snow.
Wilma is still a Category 3 storm with 115 mph winds, and is moving at a brisk 53 mph off the coast of North Carolina. It is expected to absorb Alpha (a tropical depression that has slammed the Dominican Republic and Haiti), and to eventually join with a nor'easter developing in the region. Moisture and energy will increase to build the superstorm.
The southeastern Massachusetts coast is expected to experience the fiercest winds; advisories are also in place for Rhode Island and central Masssachusetts.
"Today is a little hairy. Pulling the boats out here is a decision you have to make whether or not you want to tie it up good, or whether you want to pull it out and put it in the lot," boat owner Drew Poce told ABC News Boston affiliate WCVB-TV.
A flood watch is in effect for most of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, northern Connecticut, and southern New Hampshire.
A Wintertime Phenomenon, Early
Wind and rains aren't the only threat: The Berkshires in western Massachusetts could see up to 7 inches of snow.
Tracy McCormick, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Taunton, Mass., told the Associated Press that the ingredients are similar to the January blizzard that covered parts of the state with more than 3 feet of snow.
"Nor'easters are more of a wintertime phenomenon, definitely," McCormick said. "But those are the conditions we're seeing headed this way."
Further south, flood watches are in effect for parts of the New York metropolitan area that already were under water from eight straight days of rain earlier this month. New York area airports already faced delays from Monday night's rain.
Emergency management officials told WABC-TV in New York they are most concerned with strong wind gusts.
"The ground is soft," said Harry Conover of Monmouth County, N.J., Emergency Management. "Some of the trees may have been weakened from the storm previously, and we're going to watch that."
After already slogging through a wet October, weather-weary residents braced for more property damage.
Bill Fergus of Spring Lake, N.J., told WABC that his waterfront home was flooded earlier this month. Now his walls are torn down as the property slowly dries.
"We don't know what we're going to do," Fergus said. "It's a horrendous situation."
There was a puddle that was ankle deep at 8 am. I have to cross it around 3 this afternoon so I think I might wear my boots, so that I can ford the river and not get my feet too wet. One of the normal brooks on campus is now a muddy fast moving river. I have to walk through the woods to get to all my classes too. It's pretty scary having the trees leaning over as you're walking underneath them.
