Weather system deluges eastern US coast as hurricane threat eases

SARASOTA, Fla. _ The southeastern U.S. coast was likely to be spared the wrath of Hurricane Joaquin, but rainfall from a low pressure system drenched several states Saturday.tmpplchld Flood warnings were posted in several coastal states.tmpplchld One of the worst hit was South Carolina, which the U.S. National Weather Service said was at “high risk for excessive rainfall Saturday and Saturday night.” Portions of Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee were also in danger of flooding.tmpplchld President Barack Obama declared an emergency in South Carolina and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts.tmpplchld The governors of several eastern states, declared emergencies in preparation for the extreme weather.tmpplchld The storm, which was about 621 miles southeast of Savannah, Ga. Saturday, is expected to turn north-northeast away from the U.S. coast on Sunday.tmpplchld Joaquin maintained its category 4 rating on the Saffir-Simpson scale with maximum sustained winds speeds of nearly 152 miles per hour and higher gusts, the National Hurricane Center said. tmpplchld It is moving at a speed of about 17 miles per hour.tmpplchld The eye of the storm is forecast to pass west of Bermuda on Sunday, the hurricane center said. However, a small deviation to the east of the forecast track would bring the core of the hurricane and stronger winds closer to Bermuda.tmpplchld Joaquin damaged houses and uprooted trees in the Bahamas on Friday. It also cut off communication to a lightly populated island in the archipelago.tmpplchld “Some fluctuations in intensity are likely (Saturday night), but Joaquin is forecast to gradually weaken during the next 48 hours,” the hurricane center said.tmpplchld A low-pressure system dumping rain on the East Coast turned the streets of some South Carolina towns into rivers.tmpplchld “We are about to go through something that we have never gone through before,” Gov. Nikki Haley said. “We are going to see rainfall at historic levels.”tmpplchld The U.S. Coast Guard deployed airplanes, helicopters and ships near the Bahamas on Saturday to search for a cargo vessel that went missing with 33 people on board.tmpplchld The ship’s crew last contacted coast guard authorities early Thursday, saying it had lost propulsion and was leaning to its side by 15 degrees.tmpplchld “The crew reported the ship had previously taken on water, but that all flooding had been contained,” the coast guard said.tmpplchld tmpplchld ___tmpplchld (c)2015 Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH (Hamburg, Germany)tmpplchld Visit Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH (Hamburg, Germany) at www.dpa.de/English.82.0.htmltmpplchld Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.tmpplchld