Hurricane Larry looms in Atlantic while Ida-battered areas brace for more heavy rains
Hurricane Larry was on a path Tuesday to push "life-threatening" swells onto much of the East Coast later this week while a swath of the nation pummeled by deadly Hurricane Ida braced for possibly heavy rains and flooding.
President Joe Biden arrived in Somerset County, New Jersey, for a briefing at the emergency management training center on Tuesday as part of a two-state stop to survey damage from Ida's remnants in the storm-battered Northeast.
The president visited Manville, New Jersey, and also survey damage in the New York City borough of Queens.
"We're living through it now. We don't have any more time," Biden said of the effects of climate change while at the stop in New Jersey. "Every part of the country is getting hit by extreme weather. We can't turn it back very much, but we can prevent it from getting worse."
Earlier, Biden told reporters before leaving the White House, "I'm hoping to be able to see the things we are going to be able to fix permanently with the bill that we have in for infrastructure."
In Louisiana, more than 400,000 homes and businesses remained without power Tuesday, nine days after Ida stormed ashore. Forecasters are watching a cluster of storms near Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula that were expected to cross the Gulf of Mexico, the National Hurricane Center said.
Louisiana, where Ida was blamed for more than a dozen deaths, could be a target for the storms.
“Unfortunately, it could bring a lot of rain to our already saturated region,” said John Hawkins, vice president of distribution operations for Entergy Louisiana. "If we are impacted, this could challenge our restoration."
Hurricane Larry: Severe swells could plague East Coast; Louisiana braces for rain
Farther north, a string of storms threatened more flooding in areas overwhelmed by Ida. More than 50 people died in Ida flooding in the Northeast.
Showers will first arrive in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York State early Wednesday, AccuWeather warned. Throughout the day, thunderstorms could develop as the front pushes across the Northeast.
"For the first time since Ida's catastrophic flooding, parts of the Northeast will have the potential for more downpours and gusty winds," AccuWeather meteorologist Dean Devore said.
Widespread rainfall amounts near half an inch are forecast, and more localized amounts around 1 inch are possible with any thunderstorms. That's not an overwhelming amount of rain for a typical, late-summer storm. But the recent heavy rain across the Northeast will make many areas more susceptible to flooding.
Since Aug. 1, New York City has recorded more than four times its normal rainfall. Boston and Washington, D.C., have had more than triple of their normal rainfall, AccuWeather reports.
Week after Hurricane Ida's landfall, hundreds of thousands still without power
While the Ida-hammered areas await more rain, Larry lurks in the Atlantic. The Category 3 hurricane, with sustained winds of 115 mph, is not expected to reach the Atlantic Coast but swells could began pounding East Coast beaches from Florida to Maine as soon as Wednesday. The increased wave action could prompt coastal flooding at high tide, forecasters said.
"These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions," National Hurricane Center hurricane specialist Brad Reinhart said.
A tropical storm watch was issued for Bermuda, the Hurricane Center said Tuesday morning. This means that tropical storm conditions are possible within the watch area, generally within 48 hours. Though the center of Hurricane Larry was forecast to spin well east of Bermuda, tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 185 miles from Larry's center.
Contributing: The Associated Press
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hurricane Larry tracks in Atlantic; Ida-battered areas brace for rain
