From the National Hurricane Center (official):
Hurricane conditions, heavy rainfall, and coastal flooding are possible in portions of eastern Maine on Saturday, and a Hurricane Watch has been issued for that area.
There is the potential for life-threatening storm surge flooding in portions of southeastern Massachusetts, including Cape Cod and Nantucket, late Friday and Saturday, where a Storm Surge Watch has been issued.
Tropical storm conditions are possible over a large portion of coastal New England, including Cape Cod, Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and Block Island, where a Tropical Storm Watch has been issued.
(AP) - Late Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane watch for portions of Maine. A tropical storm watch also was issued for a large area of coastal New England from parts of Rhode Island to Stonington, Maine, including Block Island, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.
The outer bands of Hurricane Lee began to lash Bermuda late Thursday as big surf pounded the island, with the Category 2 storm expected to make landfall on the coast of New England or Atlantic Canada over the weekend.
Lee is expected to grow in size and keep traveling north as it slowly loses strength in cooler waters. It is forecast to approach the coast of New England and Atlantic Canada on Friday and Saturday and remain a “large and dangerous hurricane,” according to the National Hurricane Center.
A hurricane watch was issued from Stonington, Maine to the U.S.-Canadian border. A tropical storm watch was issued for a large swath of coastal New England from Watch Hill, Rhode Island to Stonington, Maine, including Block Island, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. A storm surge watch was issued for Cape Cod Bay and Nantucket.
“Due to Lee’s large size, hazards will extend well away from the center, and there will be little to no significance on exactly where the center reaches the coast,” the center said.
Hurricane-force winds extended up to 115 miles (185 kilometers) from Lee’s center, and tropical-storm-force winds extended up to 240 miles (390 kilometers), the center reported. It warned of wind, rain and coastal flooding for parts of New England and Atlantic Canada.
The storm is approaching as New England struggled on Wednesday with flooding from unusually heavy rainfall unrelated to the hurricane that prompted the governor of Massachusetts to declare a state of emergency.
Forecasters warned of dangerous surf and rip currents in Lesser Antilles, the British and U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Bahamas, Bermuda and the U.S. East Coast. The conditions were starting to reach Atlantic Canada.
“I understand our community has been through a lot with back-to-back storms,” Burch said, referring to Idalia, which spun past the island on Saturday as a post-tropical cyclone and has since dissipated. “I want to acknowledge the fatigue and concern many of you may be feeling right now.”