Hurricane Lee targets New England as region recovers from torrential rain

Hurricane Lee is set to hit New England later this week as the area recovers from several days of severe weather. 

Communities in Massachusetts and Rhode Island experienced tornado warnings and torrential rain, The Associated Press reported. Two communities declared a state of emergency after nearly 10 inches of rain fell in six hours, causing flooding, evacuations and sinkholes. 

The National Weather Service in Boston posted online that according to its radar, “It does appear likely that a tornado occurred.”

“It was really scary, the amount of water that fell in just a short amount of time and the incredible devastation that it caused,” Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healy (D) said.

As communities survey the damage, they are preparing for more weather. 

As of Thursday morning, an advisory issued by the National Hurricane Center warned that severe weather conditions and coastal flooding are possible in parts of eastern Maine and in southern New Brunswick and western Nova Scotia in Canada on Saturday. 

“Heavy rainfall in these areas may produce localized urban and small stream flooding from Friday night into Saturday night,” the advisory said. “Tropical storm conditions are possible elsewhere across New England and Atlantic Canada within the Tropical Storm Watch areas.”

Areas from Watch Hill in Rhode Island to Stonington, Maine, are also under a tropical storm watch and a storm surge watch has been issued for Massachusetts’s Cape Cod Bay and Nantucket with the potential for life-threatening flooding Friday and Saturday, AP reported. 

Hurricane Lee’s storm effects hit Bermuda overnight with winds of up to 105 miles per hour, the newswire reported.