BLOG: Hurricane Irene At Its Worst Saturday Night To Sunday Afternoon
Good evening! Well, the models are still in strong agreement that Hurricane Irene will play a very strong part of our weekend. At this point, it appears that the storm will probably be a Category 2 storm when it passes just east of Ocean City on early Sunday morning moving rapidly toward New York and southern New England with some serious flooding and damage.
Here in Maryland, we expect the worst effects to be felt between 10 p.m. Saturday night to about 2 p.m. on Sunday. Here across central Maryland, we expect winds to be in the range of 40-50 mph with possible gusts to 60 mph! At Ocean City, they may get a gust to close to 100 mph!! We expect about three to possibly six inches of rain to fall across our region in the storm, causing flooding in many areas. Coastal flooding is likely on the Bay as well and a certainty along the Ocean beaches.
The Hurricane Center has already issued a Tropical Storm Watch for our area and a Hurricane Watch for the Atlantic Ocean beaches. Please take time to move objects such as umbrellas and trash cans to a safe place as they may certainly blow around during the storm. If you live on the lower areas at sea level on the Bay, move any valuables etc. to a higher floor to avoid flooding possibilities. Also have some bottled water and flashlights handy due to the likelihood of extended power outages. This is a serious storm and not to be taken likely. So please heed the advice of community and storm managers and stay safe.
We will have updates of course on the storm and its effects here at WJZ.COM and on all of our local newscasts. Thanks for reading!
Bob Turk
