Cape May, NJ Hurricane Irene Evacuations to Begin Friday Morning

Officials have issued a mandatory evacuation of Cape May beginning at 8a.m. Friday

By Alicia Cruz

The New Jersey Newsroom

As New Jerseyans await the arrival of Hurricane Irene, a significant cold front will move through the region bringing heavy showers and thunderstorms that could make for catastrophic conditions to the region once Irene makes landfall. Rutgers University climatologist David A. Robinson says rain and wind from Irene could have a devastating impact on southern New Jersey, an area among the hardest hit by August rains, which more than doubled rainfall amounts for the state and caused several dams to fail during a storm two weeks ago, NJ.com reported.

READ: CAPE MAY EVACUATION PLAN

That, coupled with significant flooding the eastern portion of the state may see from Irene, makes the system an even more serious threat to already saturated areas with above average river levels. These factors prompted Governor Chris Christie to declare a state of emergency today. During the afternoon press conference at the State Police Regional Operations Center in Ewing, Christie said officials had to be prepared and that residents should not take the situation lightly. The Governor added that he would not order evacuations unless they became necessary, but evacuations on the barrier islands in Atlantic County are likely. Officials will make a final determination Friday. Christie's declaration activated 6,000 members of the National Guard, MyFoxNY reported.

Hurricane Irene's track late yesterday indicated an even greater threat to our coastline because models show she is following a similar path to that of the most notable hurricane of the 1944 Hurricane season, The Great Atlantic Hurricane. Named for its size and intensity, the Great Atlantic smacked the Jersey coastline as a powerful Category 2 and devastated the shore towns of Long Beach Island, Barnegat, Atlantic City, Ocean City, and Cape May. The storm claimed 390 lives in all and damages totaled $100 million. 

The similarity has given forecasters a foreboding sense of the devastation Irene could bring if she hit the area as a strong category 1 or 2 packing winds of 90 to 100 mph. However, Robinson said while New Jersey's case is the most serious he has seen in nearly 20 years, the good news is, “...In all the (previous) cases, something has gone right for New Jersey," the Courier Post reported.

According to the National Weather Service, Irene's center was 700 miles south of Morehead City, North Carolina at 5 a.m. with a storm intensity of 115 mph winds. Although the system weakened slightly during the night, Irene is expected to strengthen some time today and could grow into a category 4 hurricane.

Irene's core will continue to move over the northwestern Bahamas today with its outer rain bands moving into eastern Florida today and tonight. Hurricane conditions could arrive along the Jersey shore by Sunday morning before moving onto New York City and Long Island by midday Sunday and lasting through the evening.