BAR HARBOR, Maine — Fishermen eliminated lobster traps from the water and residents hauled lots of of boats ashore — leaving some harbors trying like ghost cities — whereas utility employees from as distant as Tennessee started taking on positions Friday forward of Hurricane Lee’s heavy winds, excessive seas and rain that’s anticipated to span lots of of miles (kilometers) of land and sea.

The storm is projected to be greater than 400 miles (640 kilometers) extensive with tropical-storm-force winds when it reaches land, creating worries of energy outages in Maine, the nation’s most closely forested state, the place the bottom is saturated and bushes are weakened from heavy summer season rains.

Lee remained a hurricane with 80 mph (128 kph) winds Friday because it headed towards New England and japanese Canada with 20-foot (6-meter) ocean swells, robust winds and rain. Forecasters mentioned there could be winds topping 40 mph (64 kph) throughout the area, with peak winds reaching upward of 65 mph (104 kph), forward of landfall anticipated Saturday afternoon .

There was little else to be accomplished however wait and fear, and make last preparations as Lee spun about 290 miles (465 kilometers) southeast of Nantucket, Massachusetts.

In Bar Harbor, there have been solely two lobster boats within the water in contrast with 20 to 25 on a traditional day. Lobsterman Bruce Young mentioned his 38-foot (12-meter) vessel was transported to the native airport, saying it’s higher to be protected than sorry. “There’s going to be huge white rollers coming in on top of 50 to 60 mph winds. It’ll be quite entertaining,” he mentioned.

On Long Island, industrial lobster fisherman Steve Train had simply completed hauling 200 traps out of the water. Train, who can also be a firefighter, was going to attend out the storm on the island in Casco Bay.

He was not involved about staying there within the storm. “Not one bit,” he mentioned.

In South Thomaston, Dave Cousens, who misplaced fishing gear when Hurricane Bob got here by in 1991, mentioned lobstermen had been busy transferring their traps, which price $100 to $170 apiece, out of hurt’s option to attempt to keep away from injury from the tough seas.

While landfall was projected for close by Nova Scotia, the Category 1 system was sufficiently big to trigger considerations over a large space even when it weakens to a tropical storm. Parts of coastal Maine might see waves as much as 15 ft (4.5 meters) excessive crashing down, inflicting erosion and injury, and the robust gusts will trigger energy outages, mentioned Louise Fode, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Maine. As a lot as 5 inches (12 centimeters) of rain was forecast for japanese Maine, the place a flash flood watch was in impact.

In Canada, Ian Hubbard, a meteorologist for Environment and Climate Change Canada and the Canadian Hurricane Centre, mentioned Lee received’t be anyplace close to the severity of the remnants of Hurricane Fiona, which washed homes into the ocean, knocked out energy to most of two provinces and swept a girl into the ocean a yr in the past.

But it was nonetheless a harmful storm. Kyle Leavitt, director of the New Brunswick Emergency Management Organization, urged residents to remain dwelling, saying, “Nothing good can come from checking out the big waves and how strong the wind truly is.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was convening the incident response group, which meets solely to debate occasions with main implications for Canada, on Friday. Consisting of Cabinet ministers and senior officers, it was beforehand convened over occasions together with the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and the report wildfire season this yr.

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey joined Maine in declaring a state of emergency and asking the Federal Emergency Management Agency to challenge a pre-disaster emergency declaration. She additionally activated as much as 50 National Guard members to assist with storm preparations, together with working highwater autos to answer flooded areas.

The storm’s arrival was anticipated simply days after heavy flooding and tornadoes in New England.

“As we’ve seen in recent weeks, severe weather is not to be taken lightly. Flooding, wind damage, downed trees, tree limbs — all these things create real hazards and problems for people,” Healey mentioned.

East Hampton, New York, barred swimming — and, in a minimum of some locations, even strolling — on seashores due to harmful surf. Caution tape was strung up alongside the sting of the sand on the tony second-home neighborhood’s picturesque Main Beach, the place waves already had been roiling Friday afternoon, News12 Long Island video confirmed.

In Rhode Island, Gov. Dan McKee mentioned crews had been working to safe the enduring 11-foot-tall (3.4-meter-tall) “Independent Man” statue atop the State House dome. Workers wished to safeguard the 500-pound statue in opposition to the storm’s wind and rain after a drone lately captured footage exhibiting injury to the bottom.

In Maine, the place persons are accustomed to damaging winter nor’easters, some brushed apart the approaching Lee as one thing akin to these storms solely with out the snow.

“We fear nor’easters up here more than the remnants of a tropical storm,” mentioned Andrea Silverthorne, who works in reception and reservations on the Inn on the Wharf in Lubec, Maine’s easternmost city.

Many vacationers had been caught up within the storm.

Kent Thomas and his spouse Robin, from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, watched the climate stories intently earlier than deciding to journey to Mount Desert Island, dwelling to Acadia National Park. They’re used to large storms again dwelling, in order that they’re going with the circulation.

“We’ll hunker down like everyone else with the winds and the weather,” Kent Thomas mentioned whereas visiting Bar Harbor. “We have a lot of experience with tropical storms and hurricanes in North Carolina. Power outages and tree damage go with the territory.”

Destructive hurricanes are comparatively uncommon this far to the north. The Great New England Hurricane of 1938 introduced gusts as excessive as 186 mph (300 kph) and sustained winds of 121 mph (195 kph) at Massachusetts’ Blue Hill Observatory. But there have been no storms that highly effective lately.

The final storm to make landfall in New England as a hurricane was Bob, which tore throughout Cape Cod and charged northward towards Maine, shedding steam and changing into a tropical storm, based on the National Weather Service.

The area discovered the arduous approach with Hurricane Irene in 2011 that injury isn’t at all times confined to the coast. Downgraded to a tropical storm, Irene nonetheless triggered greater than $800 million in injury in Vermont.

For this storm, a part of Maine was briefly underneath a hurricane look ahead to the primary time since 2008, for Hurricane Kyle, which skirted japanese Maine. The final hurricane to make landfall in Maine was Hurricane Gerda, which hit Eastport in 1969.

• Sharp and Whittle reported from Portland. Associated Press author Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed.

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