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Coastal flooding remains a threat into Monday

Posted at 10:49 AM, Sep 03, 2016
and last updated 2016-09-03 14:09:02-04

RICHMOND, Va. -- Hermine will continue tracking to the northeast, away from North Carolina, Saturday afternoon into Saturday night.  The center of the storm will begin to stall not too far away from the east coast.  The strength of the system will cause a prolonged period of strong wind gusts close to the shoreline.  This repeated flow of wind will push the Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay up against the coastline.

The surge of water will range anywhere from 1 to 4 feet above normal.  This, coupled with high tide cycles, will create coastline flooding through Sunday and even into Monday.

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This phenomenon will cause moderate coastal flooding in the Northern Neck, and moderate to locally severe flooding across the Middle Peninsula.  The flooding will be most severe near Virginia Beach and the Atlantic side of the Eastern Shore.

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As the storm system pushes farther away from the coast towards the middle of the week, conditions will improve.  Some of the computer models are not moving the storm away until late in the week, so this is a situation that will need to be closely monitored for the days to come.

In addition to the beaches and bay, there will be rises on some rivers in far southeastern Virginia.  Here is one example of the James River in Jamestown:

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