Hurricane Earl was advertised as a storm that would lash the East Coast with heavy winds and rain, but the storm went out with a whimper and didn’t cause nearly the kind of damage that was expected.
Projections warning about the storm’s power had been sent by everyone from weather forecasters to government officials.
“Conditions will dramatically worsen over Cape Cod and the islands Friday afternoon, with the worst likely in these areas Friday night. Similar to the Outer Banks, gusts again may reach hurricane force with offshore seas of over 35 feet,” Alex Sosnowski, senior meteorologist at Accuweather.com, wrote earlier this week.
The storm did cause some coastal flooding, but the damage was mostly minimal. Less than 300 people lost power in North Carolina.
“We’re ecstatic didn’t happen,” Craig Fugate of the Federal Emergency Management Agency told the Christian Science Monitor. “We’re looking forward to some time off this weekend.”
In Canada, the storm showed some of its punch as it knocked out power to over 200,000 residents in Nova Scotia, according to The Toronto Sun.
“The sun’s breaking through right now,” Glen Dunn, head of the Wharf Rat Rally, a motorcycle rally in Digby, Nova Scotia, told the Sun. He refused to cancel the six-day long event.
He said he witnessed strong winds and rain Saturday but saw none of the threatened tide surges or massive waves.
“It was the storm that didn’t happen,” he continued. “The rain has stopped. It’s clear and will be clear for days.”