Erika Unleashes New Flooding Risk From Florida to Georgia

By Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist

September 1,2015; 9:31PM,EDT

 

 

The combination of moisture from Erika and a non-tropical system will drench areas from Florida to the Georgia coast through the middle of the week.
The leftover center of Erika was located over the northeastern corner of the Gulf of Mexico and was drifting northeastward as of Tuesday.

According to AccuWeather Hurricane Expert Dan Kottlowski, "Erika's moisture will produce spotty flooding over the coastal sections of the southeastern United States as it drifts northward and merges with a non-tropical low pressure area."
Locally torrential downpours will bring the risk of flash and urban flooding in some communities from the upper half of the Florida Peninsula to the eastern part of the Florida Panhandle and southeastern Georgia.

The downpours and locally gusty winds produced from Erika's moisture will mostly affect areas on the Florida coast from Sarasota Bay to Cape San Blas and farther inland to Orlando, Melbourne, Jacksonville and Tallahassee.
People in these areas should expect localized flooding downpours, gusty storms and the potential for waterspouts.

Drenching thunderstorms can also erupt farther south over the Florida Peninsula.
Another 1-2 inches of rain are likely to fall in coastal areas of the Southeast states, with local amounts of 4 inches likely.
The bulk of the rainfall is likely shift northeastward over northern Florida to the Georgia and South Carolina coasts, where there could be a couple of waterspouts on Wednesday.
In addition to the downpours and locally gusty winds, seas and surf can get rough in the vicinity of the strong thunderstorms. As a result, bathers and boaters will need to keep an eye out for rapidly changing weather conditions.
The bulk of the moisture will be pulled northeastward away from the Southeastern states later this week as a non-tropical low pressure area drifts out to sea.
The weather should improve from Florida to the Carolinas before the Labor Day weekend. However, there is the potential for showers and thunderstorms to flare up from time to time as some moisture will remain.
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Very warm and mainly rain-free conditions continue in the Northeast. An area of high pressure will block much of the remaining moisture from moving northward.
Erika was shredded while trying to cross the large mountainous islands of Hispaniola and Cuba late last week and into Saturday, following significant damage and loss of life in the Caribbean.
According to AccuWeather Hurricane Expert Dan Kottlowski, Erika was downgraded to a tropical rainstorm over the past weekend.
"There is a remote chance a non-tropical storm system near the Carolina coast may develop and take on tropical characteristics in the vicinity of Bermuda late this week or this weekend," Kottlowski said.
Elsewhere in the Atlantic, a tropical disturbance will move westward and cross the northern Caribbean but is not expected to develop this week.
Fred, near Africa, will move past the Cape Verde Islands and into the open waters of the Atlantic as the week progresses. Fred is not expected to threaten the U.S.