Powerful Coastal Storm Batters Eastern US, Impacts Over 120 Million

In the past week, the United States has been dealing with a powerful coastal storm impacting over 120 million people along the eastern seaboard. According to The Independent, a strong low-pressure system began forming off the coast of Florida on Friday night, bringing widespread severe weather all the way up to Massachusetts. This storm system, while not technically named a derecho, features many of the same destructive elements listeners expect with these widespread windstorms: wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour, damaging coastal flooding, dangerous surf, and scattered power outages. Florida began experiencing flooding late Thursday, with reports of vehicles trapped in high water and wind gusts approaching 30 miles per hour as the system pushed northward into the Carolinas.

South Carolina got particularly hard hit, with Charleston and Colleton counties seeing major travel disruptions and localized flooding. The National Weather Service forecasted that the Springmaid Pier in Horry County was on track to see a tide crest among the top 10 highest in recorded history for that location. Much of the Outer Banks in North Carolina braced for four feet of flooding and up to five inches of rain through the weekend, with warnings that high winds could create severe coastal impacts into early next week. In North Carolina, the Outer Banks’ main highway, NC-12, was expected to close again due to ocean overwash, which is never good news for local residents or travelers.

As the storm accelerated up the coast, the Mid-Atlantic region, including Virginia and Delaware, was battening down for wind gusts up to 55 miles per hour and the risk of three feet of storm surge in some spots. Authorities in Delaware issued coastal flood watches and urged residents to take precautions as significant beach erosion and potential dune breaching were threatened. In New Jersey and New York, up to five inches of rain was expected with a high wind watch for New York City. Governor Phil Murphy urged New Jersey residents to keep a very close eye on weather alerts over the weekend.

A particularly unusual aspect of this storm is that it coincided with king tides, when the moon’s position leads to higher-than-normal coastal water levels. The Associated Press explained that Charleston saw at least a dozen city streets flooded Friday morning, and the high tide forecast was among the highest in over a century of local measurements. King tides combined with the unnamed storm created multi-day impacts, especially for the Outer Banks and Charleston. This latest nor’easter forced rapid responses with free parking for flooded-out residents, travel warnings, and possible road closures.

Meteorologists warn that even though the Atlantic hurricane season has been quiet, with only one major landfall earlier in July, the current Pacific cooling pattern known as La Nina may have longer-term effects on storms in both oceans. Social media buzzed about the unusual convergence of king tides and coastal flooding, as well as jokes about Tropical Storm Karen circulating online—but for those impacted by the storm, the situation was far from comedic.

Listeners, thank you for tuning in to this week’s update on destructive windstorm activity in the United States. Remember to check back next week for more severe weather coverage and insights. This has been a Quiet Please production. For more, check out Quiet Please Dot A I.

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