(New York) Tropical storm Isaias swept the east coast of the United States on Tuesday, where its sometimes violent winds, accompanied by heavy rains, made at least two dead and without electricity several million people.
Posted on August 3 2012 to 19 h 40 Updated August 4 2012 at 22 h 01 )
Peter HUTCHISON, with Lucie AUBOURG in Washington
France Media Agency
A driver was killed by a fall from a tree on his vehicle, while another person was seriously injured by a branch, said New York Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Isaias had already made one death in North Carolina, where his eye had made landfall during the night of Monday to Tuesday with winds blowing up to 140 km / h, which then made it a category 1 hurricane (out of 5).
The depression gradually weakened during the day as it progressed towards the northeast of the country, via Virginia, the federal capital Washington, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York.
But it still caused material damage and deprived nearly 3 million people of electricity, according to poweroutage.us, mostly in the state of New Jersey.
PHOTO JACQUELINE LARMA, AP
Atlantic City, New Jersey
“We see trees and branches torn down across the city”, “take it seriously. If you don't have to be outside, stay home, “New York City mayor Bill de Blasio warned on Twitter, whose ferry, train and some overhead subway services have been closed.
The New York authorities, still marked by the devastating passage of Hurricane Sandy in 924 , had installed protective dikes in the southern Manhattan neighborhood in the morning in anticipation of a possible rise in water.
But “the storm has mostly brought wind so far, more than floods,” De Blasio noted on a local television channel.
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According to the latest National Hurricane Center (NHC) bulletin, Isaias was progressing to 20 local hours (0 h GMT) over Vermont, before quickly reaching Canada with maximum sustained winds of 80 km / h.
“I invite all those on the path of the storm to remain vigilant and to follow the recommendations of their State and local authorities”, declared President Donald Trump in the afternoon during a press conference at the White House.
The NHC had issued a tornado vigilance advisory for several states, including Pennsylvania and New York, but the worst seems to have been avoided.
In North Carolina, used almost every summer to the passage of storms and hurricanes, “the damage was not at all as severe as it could have been”, declared on ABC the governor Roy Cooper.
While his state is among those facing a resurgence of the COVID epidemic in the country – 11, he had asked the inhabitants, despite the arrival of the storm, not to forget to respect the barrier gestures.
He explained Tuesday morning that a larger number of shelters had to be planned in order to allow social distancing inside them.
Isaias first threatened Florida, one of the current epicenters of the novel coronavirus epidemic in the United States, on Sunday. COVID testing centers – 19, including many are lodged in tents, had to be closed there.
The authorities feared the devastating effect of the cumulative effect of this health crisis with the passage of the depression, but the “Sunshine State” was ultimately spared.
Isaias had made a victim last week in the American territory of Puerto Rico, a woman of 56 years whose vehicle was washed away.
The depression also caused damage, measured, in the Dominican Republic, in Haiti and in the Bahamas.