August 23: Hurricane Bill was downgraded to a Category 1 storm on Saturday evening as it traveled north toward Canada, after blowing through Bermuda and bringing dangerous swells and rip currents to beaches on the Atlantic coast of the United States.
The Boardwalk was quiet on Friday at Coney Island as beaches there and elsewhere were closed. Many remained closed Saturday.
Residents of the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland braced for the storm, which was expected to dump up to seven inches of rain and cause storm surges — with waves up to 26 feet high in Newfoundland — on Sunday, according to government forecasters in the United States and Canada.
The hurricane was expected to pass off the shore of New England on Saturday night. The National Weather Service issued a tropical storm warning for the Massachusetts coast, including Martha’s Vineyard, where President Obama and his family are to begin a vacation on Sunday. They are likely to be met on the ground by about an inch of rain.
After a very slow June and July, the first Atlantic hurricane of the season arrived with tempered anticipation and appeared to have brought no severe damage. Bermuda’s airport reopened Saturday afternoon after being closed on Friday evening, as officials there reported some flooding. There were no reports of casualties after the storm struck with winds less intense than had been anticipated.
“There is minimal damage to most structures,” Walter Roban, the acting minister of labor, home affairs and housing, said in a telephone interview. The storm had been downgraded to a Category 2 hurricane from a Category 3, and its path had shifted west by the time it struck Friday night.
“This was well below the worst of what we had expected,” Mr. Roban said.
Still, Dennis Feltgen, a spokesman for the National Hurricane Center, said the storm was “nothing to fool around with.”
“This is a very large storm, with tropical-storm-force winds extending outward 275 miles from its center,” Mr. Feltgen said. “Even though the core of Bill will remain offshore, the wind field will clip coastal Massachusetts.”
Rain from the outermost western bands of the storm was expected to blanket Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard on Saturday, continuing into the night. Wind speeds in a tropical storm range from 39 to 73 miles an hour. If all goes according to the forecast, Cape Cod should escape the worst of the storm.
“We expect it to be about 170 miles east of Nantucket by midnight,” said Kim Buttrick, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Taunton, Mass.
In the New York City area, six beaches in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island remained closed Saturday for a second day as large waves battered the shore and officials monitored the track of the storm. Jones Beach, which was experiencing flooding, was closed for swimming but open for surfing. Robert Moses State Park was open only for sunbathing. And in Hither Hills State Park in Montauk, swimming was prohibited.
Coastal flood advisories and a flash flood warning were in effect for most parts of the New York area. Officials for the New York state park system were reporting waves up to 10 feet high.
Residents of Canada’s Maritime Provinces began preparing for the storm as early as Thursday, with stores reporting long lines of people buying Coleman stoves, tires and other provisions in case they needed to camp out inside their own homes. Though the storm’s projected path shifted to the south and east of the coastline as the weekend progressed, officials at the Canadian Hurricane Centre warned of downed utility lines and tree branches.
Canada’s Atlantic coast is experiencing some of the highest spring tides of the year, which, combined with high waves and possible storm surge, could “cause some damage to coastal infrastructure,” the Canadian Hurricane Centre warned.
The Exxon Mobil Corporation evacuated about 200 workers from its installations off the coast of Nova Scotia, and Marine Atlantic, the main ferry service to the island of Newfoundland, planned to suspend service for 24 hours starting Sunday morning. Bill’s wind speeds were expected to drop to tropical storm levels early Monday morning.
In early August, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration lowered its estimate for the number of storms in the Atlantic for this hurricane season, which began June 1 and runs through November. It attributed the change to a developing El Niño, which warmed tropical waters in the Pacific Ocean and consequently calmed storm activity in the Atlantic.
“Just because we had a relatively quiet June and July, it’s no harbinger for the rest of the season,” Mr. Feltgen said.
It appeared as if the Obamas would see only the remnants of the storm, and then have relatively quiet weather for the week.
Ms. Buttrick, the meteorologist from Taunton, said the forecast for Martha’s Vineyard on Sunday called for showers in the morning and possible thunderstorms in the afternoon with continued humidity.
On Monday, she said, the forecast was for mostly sunny skies, highs in the upper 70s and low 80s. “It looks like Tuesday and Wednesday will be sunny,” she said, “and the first chance of rain will come Thursday.”
–Agencies