Hurricane Maria staying away from US mainland

Hurricane Maria has no potential for landfall in the next 24 hours and a low potential to inflict significant insured loss, according to the Wednesday morning catastrophe alert from the Impact Forecasting unit of Aon Benfield.

While Maria, currently a Category 1 hurricane, is forecast to slowly move away from the North Carolina coast later Wednesday, tropical storm conditions are expected to continue along portions of it through Wednesday afternoon, Impact said, with associated flooding and storm surge.

“Storm surge flooding is occurring, especially along the sound side of the North Carolina Outer Banks, and a storm surge warning and watch are in effect for portions of eastern North Carolina,” the Impact alert said. “The combination of a dangerous storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline.”

Maria devastated Puerto Rico as the storm roared through the Caribbean, causing damages now projected into the tens of billions of dollars.

Maria is now making an anticipated north-northeast turn and is expected to turn east-northeastward on Thursday, Impact said. Cool sea surface temperatures are likely to result in a slow decrease in intensity and Maria is expected to become an extratropical low over the North Atlantic in the next few days.

Ocean conditions will remain a concern during this time, according to the Alert.

“Swells generated by Maria are affecting much of the east coast of the United States, Atlantic Canada, Bermuda, the Bahamas, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions,” Impact said.