Hurricane Lee live tracker: Maine declares state of emergency as storm closes in on New England

The deadly firestorm in Hawaii and Hurricane Idalia’s watery storm surge helped push the United States to a record for the number of weather disasters that cost $1 billion or more. And there’s still four months to go on what’s looking more like a calendar of calamities.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced on Monday that there have been 23 weather extreme events in America that cost at least $1 billion this year through August, eclipsing the year-long record total of 22 set in 2020. So far this year’s disasters have cost more than $57.6 billion and claimed at least 253 lives.

And NOAA’s count doesn’t yet include Tropical Storm Hilary’s damages in hitting California and a deep drought that has struck the South and Midwest because those costs are still to be totaled, said Adam Smith, the NOAA applied climatologist and economist who tracks the billion-dollar disasters.

After a deluge of rain, flooding, sinkholes and tornadoes this week, New England is about to face Hurricane Lee.

As the Category 1 system impacted Bermuda, Maine was under its first hurricane watch in 15 years and a state of emergency declared Thursday by state governor Janet Mills. The water-logged region prepared for 20ft waves offshore and winds of up to 80mph, along with more rain.

The hurricane watch applied to eastern Maine, while the rest of the state and an area extending south through Massachusetts was under a tropical storm warning. Powerful winds and coastal flooding were expected to arrive on Friday afternoon in southern New England and spread north.

Although Lee did not contribute to the flooding that hit New England earlier in the week, it threatened to exacerbate conditions in a region that is already waterlogged.

The Coast Guard and emergency management agencies warned New England residents to be prepared, and utility companies brought in reinforcements to deal with any power outages.

Locals from eastern coastal states have been posting images of brooding clouds and choppy waves on social media this morning as Hurricane Lee makes its approach.

Here’s the latest from the National Hurricane Center this morning:

The National Hurricane Centre is forecasting that Hurricane Lee will make landfall near on Saturday near the US border with Canada.

The storm may be a post-tropical storm by the time it reaches the northeastern portion of the US and Canada’s east coast.

Forecasters are predicting that heavy rain — up to four inches — will fall over eastern Massachusetts and most of Maine, new Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.

The storm is likely to bring flooding and high winds may topples trees and powerlines, causing outages throughout the region.

Hurricane Lee is approaching New England less than a week after the region was soaked with heavy rain, which has already softened and begun to erode the soil in the region.

Jon Breed, spokesperson for Central Maine Power, told The Weather Channel that the current erosion, paired with the expected rain and tropical storm-force winds from Hurricane Lee may result in toppled lines and trees.

“[Previous rain] has led to a lot of soil, soil erosion, nutrient runoff,” he said. “That means that the root systems on a number of trees are rotting.”

He warned that downed lines can be extremely dangerous and advised residents to steer clear of them in the event of any line collapses.

“As always, if those trees bring down lines, we want customers to stay very well clear of those lines that can be incredibly dangerous and call us so our crews can come and resolve that problem,” he said.

The National Weather Service expects Saturday morning and Sunday to be the peak of Hurricane Lee’s impact on New England.

“It looks like early Saturday morning into Saturday evening should be the peak in New England,” Weather Channel senior meteorologist Chris Dolce said.

The hurricane is currently churning up the US east coast on its way toward New England.

A state of emergency has already been delcared in Maine, where officials are expecting high winds, heavy rain, significant storm surge and possible flooding as a result of the hurricane.

Officials in Maine have declared a state of emergency ahead of Hurricane Lee’s arrival in the northeast.

“We continue to closely track the storm and expect heavy rains and high winds that likely will cause storm surge, flooding, infrastructure damage, and power outages,” Governor Janet Mills said in a social media post on Thursday.

“We continue to strongly urge Maine people – particularly those Downeast – to exercise caution and to take steps to ensure they have what they need to stay safe as the storm draws closer.”

The National Weather Service office serving Portland, Maine, shared an image showing the size of Hurricane Lee as it approaches the US east coast.

Hurricane Lee is expected to produce tropical storm force winds along the US east coast in the coming days, and Bermuda has already closed schools for Thursday and Friday as it feels the effects of the passing storm.

A trio of cars were left dangling on the edges of a sinkhole outside a dealership in Massachusetts following severe flooding in the area earlier this week.

The sinkhole opened up in the city of Leominster after heavy rains destabilised the ground and opened up a 15-foot deep chasm.

Public works crews expressed concerns that the flood and subsequent sinkhole might have weakened the foundation of a home near the affected area. The couple living in the house were forced to leave on Monday night.