Joaquin becomes ‘dangerous’ Category 4 hurricane

Hurricane Joaquin battered the Bahamas on Thursday as the U.S. braced for its arrival, as well as historic floods from another weather system.

Regardless of what Joaquin does, an equal concern in the U.S. is a “historic, potentially life-threatening rainfall event expected this weekend” in the Southeast from a separate weather system, the National Weather Service said.

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States along the East Coast were bracing for the worst. New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina all declared states of emergency ahead of the predicted bad weather. Forecasters are still uncertain whether Joaquin will make landfall along that Coast.

Joaquin will move northward much of this weekend, roughly paralleling the coast, AccuWeather said. There is a nearly equal possibility that the storm will make landfall along the Mid-Atlantic coast or New England coast or that it will veer out to sea.

“Residents of the Carolinas north should be paying attention and monitoring the storm; there’s no question,” Eric Blake, a hurricane specialist with the National Hurricane Center, told the Associated Press. “If your hurricane plans got a little dusty because of the light hurricane season, now is a good time to update them.”

Ahead of the storm, heavy rains were already soaking much of the eastern U.S. from a stalled front, the National Weather Service said. The rains “are likely to continue for the next few days, even if the center of Joaquin stays offshore,” the weather service said.

Parts of the Carolinas could see over a foot of rain this weekend.

“The resulting inland flood potential could complicate preparations for Joaquin should it head toward the coast, and even more substantial inland flooding is possible,” the weather service said.

Flood watches have been posted in the Carolinas and in Virginia.

Joaquin, with maximum sustained winds increasing Thursday afternoon to 130 mph, lashed the central Bahamas with hurricane-strength winds that extended as far as 45 miles from the eye, the National Hurricane Center in Miami reported.

As of 2 p.m. EDT, the center of the storm was passing over Samana Cays, Bahamas, and moving southwest at 6 mph. It was forecast to turn toward the west-northwest Thursday night, followed by a turn toward the north and an increase in forward speed Friday, according to the hurricane center.

Joaquin was expected to produce rain accumulations of 10 to 15 inches over the central Bahamas; isolated amounts of 20 inches are possible. The Bahamas Department of Meteorology warned of the possibility of flash floods and surf and dangerous rip currents, the Bahamas Press reported.