DisastersNY, NJ brace for nor’easter

East Coast resident are still coping with the destruction wreaked by Hurricane Sandy, but now they have to prepare for another potentially destructive storm – a nor’easter which is expected to hit New York and new Jersey on Wednesday.

The nor’easter has been taking shape in the Gulf of Mexico Monday, and it will begin to ravel up the East Coast early Tuesday, reaching New Jersey mid-day Wednesday. It is expected that the nor’easter will stay 50-100 miles off shore, but its western edges will bring winds of up to 55 mph, coastal flooding, up to two inches of rain along the shore, and several inches of snow to Pennsylvania and New York.

Fox News reports that one of the biggest worries was that the storm could bring renewed flooding to parts of the shore where Sandy wiped out natural beach defenses and protective dunes.

“It’s going to impact areas many areas that were devastated by Sandy. It will not be good,” said Bruce Terry, the lead forecaster for the National Weather Service.

New Jersey authorities were considering evacuating some neighborhoods which were hard hit by Sandy and where residents had only recently been allowed to return. No decision has been made yet.

The new storm was expected to move up the coast today (Tuesday), past Georgia and South Carolina, and pass off Virginia or Cape Hatteras, North Carolina early Wednesday morning.

Nor’easter, although not as intense as hurricanes, produce rains, high winds, and tidal surges. Because the storm is expected to slow down by the it reaches the New Jersey coast, its effects could linger.

In December 1992, a nor’easter that pummeled the Jersey shore over two days, causing widespread flooding and property damage.