Tropical Storm Fay brings rain, flooding to mid-Atlantic and parts of New England
The storm is expected to make landfall late on Friday
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}States in the mid-Atlantic and parts of New England have started to feel the effects of Tropical Storm Fay, with some areas seeing up to 6 inches of rain and flash flood warnings throughout the day.
Tropical Storm Fay is expected to make landfall on Friday but started to soak the area since the early hours. Parts of Delaware, New Jersey and Maryland have already seen rainfall that has caused flooding in several counties.
Tropical storm warnings and flash flood watches are in effect for the Tri-State coastal area, and the worst of the rain in the area was expected Friday afternoon into Saturday morning.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The center of the storm was still over the Atlantic as of 2 p.m. ET, with maximum sustained wind speeds of 60 mph, according to the National Weather Service, just shy of hurricane force winds.
(NOAA/NHC)
Flash flood warnings remain in effect for Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Morris, Somerset, Sussex and Warren counties through to midnight on Friday.
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for Cape May County at 8 a.m. on Friday, which expired by mid-afternoon. By that time, Atlantic City, Stone Harbor and other cities in South Jersey saw up to 4 inches of rain.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Footage of flooded streets appeared on social media, noting that flooding was caused by rain, not rising tides.
Nine people were rescued from the Atlantic Ocean off Long Beach on Long Island Thursday evening, according to ABC News. Four were taken to local hospitals; the death of one person in critical care was announced Friday morning. The other five refused care.
While flooding was expected locally, as well as gusts up to 50 mph, it is not clear if the drownings were related to the growing storm.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A tropical storm warning remains in effect from Cape May, N.J., to Watch Hill, R.I.
Fay is the earliest sixth-named storm on record, according to Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach. The previous record was Franklin on July 22, 2005, Klotzbach tweeted.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Two named storms formed before the official June 1 start of the hurricane season. None of this season’s previous five named storms strengthened into hurricanes.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.