BANGOR, Maine — A storm that reached hurricane status as it barreled its way up the east coast is expected to weaken significantly by the time it reaches Maine on Monday night.
Hermine is being blamed for at least two deaths, one in Florida and another in North Carolina.
While there was still some uncertainty over the track Hermine will take over the next few days, it appeared over the Labor Day weekend that Maine likely will dodge the bullet on this one, meteorologist John Cannon of the National Weather Service’s Gray office said Sunday afternoon.
“It scooted a little further east in the last couple of days than anticipated so the effects along the coast south of us have not been as dramatic as they could have been,” he said.
“It’s still mostly just effects along the coastal waters, with swells coming in starting [Monday] and going for a few days. It looks like at least through Wednesday,” Cannon said.
“We could get some showers in here beginning Monday night through Wednesday, most likely right along the coast,” he said. “Nothing steady, just on and off showers — well-needed showers — but the biggest thing would be the rip currents.”
Hermine churned off the U.S. Middle Atlantic Coast on Sunday, with forecasters projecting it may regain hurricane strength as it creeps north, spoiling the Labor Day holiday weekend with high winds, soaking rains and surging seas.
The storm, which claimed at least two lives, in Florida and North Carolina, was expected to stall off the coast of New Jersey and other major population centers in the Northeast for several days, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Authorities up and down the coast have ordered swimmers, surfers and boaters to stay out of treacherous waters during the holiday weekend, when many Americans celebrate the end of summer, Reuters reported on Sunday.
Overnight, the center of the storm moved farther east and away from the coast than previously forecast, said Rick Knabb, director of the hurricane center, in a webcast.
The center forecast the heaviest rains to remain offshore, with Hermine expected to produce 1 to 2 inches of rain through Monday from Long Island to eastern Massachusetts.
Accuweather.com forecast the strongest winds and heaviest rain would stay offshore much of Sunday, causing dangerous surf and coastal flooding.
The storm’s exact proximity to the coast would determine the severity of flooding and wind damage.
Hermine was classified as a Category 1 hurricane until it lost strength while cutting across Florida and Georgia, packing sustained winds of up to 65 mph. Forecasters expected winds to return to hurricane force of more than 74 mph by Sunday evening.
The surge was expected to extend from Virginia to New Jersey.
“It was a little overhyped by the media,” said Andrew Thulin, assistant general manager of Daddy O Hotel Restaurant in Long Beach Township, New Jersey. “It killed the weekend for everybody down here. I talk to all my other colleagues in our business and everybody was like, ‘Are we going to send the Weather Channel a bill?’”
Further south in Cape May, New Jersey, tourists fled during rainstorms on Saturday only to have the weather improve.
“The temperature is great. It’s beautiful out, the birds are out,” said Kathleen Wilkinson, a Philadelphia lawyer with a vacation home in Cape May. “Knowing the storm is 100 miles out at sea is comforting.”
Officials who were mindful of the devastation caused by Superstorm Sandy in 2012 took every precaution. In other parts of the state people reported coastal roads were flooded and beaches swallowed up by the surging sea.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said officials were still on alert, especially on the state’s southern coast where he declared a state of emergency in three counties.
“Unless it makes a turn back west … we’re going to be looking at moderate flooding rather than a very severe impact,” Christie told CBS News.
Hermine, the first hurricane to make landfall in Florida in 11 years, swept ashore on Friday near the town of St. Marks with winds of 80 mph, knocking out power for 300,000 Florida homes and businesses.
It left North Carolina with power outages, flooding, downed trees and power lines, while rain and tides brought flooding along Virginia’s coast.
In the northern Florida town of Ocala, a falling tree killed a homeless man sleeping in his tent. In North Carolina, a tractor-trailer overturned on a bridge over the Alligator River, killing the driver.
Commercial air travel was largely unaffected, with airlines reporting only a handful of flight cancellations.
Reuters contributed to this report.