Residents of Bar Harbor, Maine Brace for Impact of Hurricane Lee, Expected to Bring Tropical Storm Conditions and Flooding to Parts of Coastal New England

Residents of Bar Harbor, Maine are preparing for the arrival of Hurricane Lee, which is expected to bring tropical storm conditions and flooding to parts of coastal New England beginning Friday afternoon. The storm is projected to be more than 400 miles (640 kilometers) wide with tropical-storm-force winds when it reaches land, creating worries of power outages in Maine, the nation’s most heavily forested state.

The National Hurricane Center said in its 8 a.m. ET advisory that Hurricane Lee is about 460 miles south-southeast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph. Fishermen have removed lobster traps from the water and residents have hauled hundreds of boats ashore, leaving some harbors looking like ghost towns. Utility workers from as far away as Tennessee have begun taking up positions in preparation for the storm.

Forecasters have warned that Hurricane Lee will be a “large and dangerous storm,” and that 1 to 3 feet of storm surge flooding is expected in areas including Cape Cod, Long Island Sound, Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, the Boston Harbor and Flushing, New York, to the Canadian border.

The ground in Maine is already saturated from heavy summer rains, and the weakened trees are a cause for concern. Residents are urged to take all necessary precautions to protect their property and stay safe. The National Hurricane Center is continuing to monitor the storm and will provide updates as the situation develops.