Josephine Shy of Hurricane Status but Long on Trouble
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STEINHATCHEE, Fla. — The storm system Josephine never quite made it to hurricane status but still managed to leave behind a waterlogged and wind-swept mess as it raced up the East Coast on Tuesday.
Gale warnings were posted as far north as New England as the storm, large and fast-moving but not as powerful as some had forecast, brought heavy rain and gusty winds across a wide area.
Only one fatality was reported. A 72-year-old woman in southwest Georgia was killed Tuesday morning when her car struck a tree that had been downed by the storm.
The storm forced postponement of Tuesday night’s baseball playoff opener in New York between the Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles.
Flooding was reported Tuesday on downtown streets in Wilmington, N.C., which was still recovering from last month’s Hurricane Fran. The city got at least 4 inches of rain. A tornado in Brunswick County damaged a home and a Veterans of Foreign Wars post.
Rain soaked eastern Virginia, flooding intersections and tangling traffic. More than 70 traffic accidents were reported in the southeastern part of the state; however, no one was killed or seriously injured.
The storm’s broad center made landfall at the peak of high tide, just after midnight Monday, bringing flooding and tornadoes to Florida. Downgraded from a tropical storm as it moved over land, Josephine crossed the northern part of the state and into Georgia. No injuries were reported.
The storm never did reach hurricane strength of 74 mph, as had been feared, but hovered just underneath that level as it approached land. And officials looking at the damage Tuesday morning said it could have been worse.
Some motels and homes in the Steinhatchee area were flooded by a storm surge 5 to 7 feet higher than normal, but early checks revealed no wind damage. Still, electrical service was interrupted to an estimated 400,000 people in Florida.
Rainfall totals of more than 9 inches were reported in some areas already soggy from a weekend storm. Nine tornadoes were reported across Florida, and more than 125 mobile homes were damaged around Jacksonville.
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