Atlantic Storm Lee made landfall with near-hurricane force on Saturday, causing severe winds, rough seas, and heavy rains across New England and Maritime Canada. However, weather officials have since lifted several warnings and forecast that the storm will dissipate early this week.
By early Sunday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center reported that Lee, now a post-tropical cyclone, was located about 35 miles west of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, and 225 miles west of Channel-Port Aux Basques, Newfoundland.
Its sustained winds had weakened to 50 mph, with some higher gusts expected. The storm is anticipated to weaken further over the next few days and could dissipate by Tuesday.
A motorist in Maine tragically dies as Lee causes downed trees and outages.The National Hurricane Center has ended its tropical storm warning for Maine, while the Canadian Hurricane Centre has lifted warnings for New Brunswick and parts of Prince Edward Island.
Although storm surges, which were forecasted to reach up to 3 feet, are expected to diminish, there were significant impacts. A 51-year-old man in Searsport, Maine, died when a large tree limb fell on his vehicle during the storm.
Lee, moving at about 22 mph, will continue northeast across the Canadian Maritimes. Additional rainfall of up to 1 inch is expected in eastern Maine, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.
Tropical storm warnings remain for parts of Nova Scotia, the Magdalen Islands, and Prince Edward Island, with possible downed trees and power outages.
The storm has already caused significant power outages, affecting 11% of Maine’s electricity customers, 27% in Nova Scotia, 8% in New Brunswick, and 3% in Prince Edward Island.
While Lee’s impact is less severe than past storms like Hurricane Sandy or Hurricane Fiona, its effects are still notable, especially in a region recently hit by wildfires and severe flooding.