This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
Tropical Storm Hanna may not be a hurricane, but it's still dumping tons of water on the US east coast as it moves northeast this afternoon. US officials have not reported any deaths from the storm, which is bearing down on New Jersey and will likely travel over Boston very early tomorrow morning, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Some 60,000 homes lost power in North Carolina earlier in the day, although more than a third of those had power back, Reuters is reporting. The storm has left as much as five inches of rain in some locations.
Meanwhile, all eyes are on Hurricane Ike, which as of 5 p.m. EST Saturday was packing winds of 135 mph, making it an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane. Earlier, AccuWeather was predicting that Ike's strength will ebb and flow between Category 2 and 3 as it makes its way west through the Caribbean, hitting Cuba Monday morning as a Category 2. It will likely gather strength as it leaves Cuba for open Gulf of Mexico waters on Wednesday morning, which means it could threaten the Florida Keys. Officials there began evacuating residents this morning.
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For more on hurricane classifications, causes, and effects, see our in-depth report.
Satellite image of Hurricane Ike and Tropical Storm Hanna yesterday by NOAA
Updated 7:30 EST
