Imelda forecast to follow Humberto away from mainland

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(The Center Square) – Potentially deadly rip currents and high surf are possible as tropical storms Imelda and Humberto buffet the East Coast in the coming days.

Coastal flooding is possible from Florida to the Carolinas. By midweek, Imelda will be following Humberto on a northeastern track away from the mainland United States.

Imelda, on Monday morning, was a tropical storm forecast to become a hurricane either later in the day or Tuesday. Once expected to go from the Bahamas into the Carolinas, it is now projected to turn east-northeast sharply early Tuesday morning, the National Hurricane Center says.

Humberto, a major hurricane with Category 4 status Monday and having been Category 5 over the weekend, will make a more gradual turn north to northeast between early Tuesday and early Wednesday.

At 5 a.m. Monday, Imelda was about 60 miles south of Great Abaco Island, about 295 miles southeast of Cape Canaveral, Fla. Maximum sustained winds were 45 mph and the storm moved at only 8 mph to the north.

The center of the storm was expected to cross the northwestern Bahamas on Monday and move away from the southeastern mainland United States in the middle of the week. Rainfall amounts of 1 to 2 inches with maximums of 4 inches are forecast through Tuesday in northeastern Florida, coastal South Carolina and coastal sections of southeastern North Carolina.

Flash and urban flooding are possible in all states.

Humberto, at 5 a.m. Monday, is Category 4 at maximum sustained winds of 130 mph. It is moving 14 mph northwest. The location is about 375 miles south-southwest of Bermuda.

The forecasted track, the National Hurricane Center says, is well west of Bermuda. Hurricane-force winds are outward up to 60 miles from the center, and tropical storm force winds are out to 185 miles.

South Carolina second-term Republican Gov. Henry McMaster declared an emergency Friday; North Carolina first-term Democratic Gov. Josh Stein followed with one in his state on Saturday.

At time of publishing, Govs. Brian Kemp in Georgia and Ron DeSantis have not made emergency declarations.