Still battered by heavy rains caused by the remnant of Tropical Storm Fred this week, New England could face a threat unprecedented since 1991:
a hurricane off its coast
in the coming days
.
Northeast residents began pulling boats out of the water and took other precautions on Friday.
Henri is expected to become a hurricane on Saturday, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
The shocks could be felt in New England states on Sunday, including Cape Cod, which is packed with tens of thousands of summer tourists.
Satellite image of Tropical Storm Henri in the Atlantic, produced by NOAA on August 19, 2021.
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker on Friday urged those on vacation to the Cape to leave long before Henri arrived, and those planning to vacation there to defer their plans.
"We don't want people to get stuck in traffic on Cape Cod bridges when the storm is in full force Sunday," he said.
"This storm is extremely worrying," said Michael Finkelstein, police chief and director of emergency management in East Lyme, Connecticut.
"We haven't been through this in a long time and
there is no question that we and the rest of New England would have some real difficulties with a direct hit from a hurricane."
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Henri is expected to reach hurricane status with winds of up to 75 miles per hour this Friday night.
After veering north off the shores of the Bahamas on Thursday, the NHC projects it will make landfall in Newport, Rhode Island, on Sunday afternoon.
Models predict that there will be storm surge several feet high and up to eight inches of rainfall for the North Atlantic states as Henri proceeds.
Long Island, New Haven and Nantucket are already under hurricane watch.
Unlike other hurricanes that have passed through the area like Bob in 1991, Henri could slow down and stay there for several days, increasing the risk of flooding, local authorities said.
[The arrival of Hurricane Grace in Tulum accelerates the evacuation of residents and tourists]
Henri is currently carrying sustained winds of up to 70 miles per hour (112 kilometers per hour), but
is expected to strengthen
and gain Category 1 hurricane strength in the next 24 hours
.
"At this time, it is advisable to begin preparing for a possible storm that makes landfall" in southern New England, the National Weather Service office in the Boston, Massachusetts region wrote this Thursday morning, according to the report.
The Washington Post
newspaper
.
In Massachusetts and Connecticut, rains from Storm Fred caused severe flooding several feet high,
leaving cars completely submerged on the roads
.
A car is washed away by torrential waters in Newton, Massachusetts.Telemundo New England
Flash flood alerts are available for much of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and parts of Maine.
There are also tornado alerts
throughout New York and the New England region.
In North Carolina, emergency services announced Thursday that at least two people have died in Haywood County from severe flooding.
And there are more than 20 people missing after Fred razed the area, leaving roads and bridges unusable and flooding homes and businesses.
Forecast on the trajectory of the winds of Storm Henri, prepared by NOAA on August 19, 2021.
"Our search teams are working to find more victims and more survivors,"
Travis Donaldson, Haywood County's director of emergency services, told a news conference.
[Remnants of Tropical Storm Fred trigger tornadoes in North Carolina]
Due to the high pressure systems on the East coast, Henri will not be able to turn towards the center of the Atlantic as storms often do in these situations.
Experts warn that its trajectory will largely depend on the strength of these systems.
But, given current conditions, it could hit winds of up to 90 miles per hour (144 kilometers per hour) by Sunday, shortly before making landfall.
And bring up to eight inches of rain, plus storm surge several feet high in the area.
Authorities have announced that they will deploy more measurement instruments to collect atmospheric information and thus determine with greater accuracy what Henri's final trajectory will be, as he dangerously approaches one of the most densely populated areas of the country.
With information from The Associated Press.