Another storm named Hurricane Nigel is brewing over the central Atlantic
Area around Machiasport, Maine, following Hurricane Lee. Photo: National Ocean Service, NOAA The National Geodetic Survey of the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has started releasing aerial images that show the extent of damage caused by the Atlantic tropical storm Lee. NOAA aircrafts began collecting the images from September 17, 2023.
Lee swept over Nova Scotia in Canada and Maine in the US after making landfall on September 16, 2023, bringing ferocious winds and heavy rainfall, although the effects of the approaching storm was felt from the night of September 15 itself.
Trees were uprooted and powerlines snapped, plunging many neighbourhoods into darkness for hours together. Travel became impossible as floodwaters submerged roads. Several flights and ferries were also cancelled.
One person in Maine was killed after a big tree bough fell on his vehicle during strong winds. One boat also capsized and sank as the returning fishers were navigating the rough surfs ahead of landfall.
“A couple historic trees believed to be more than 100 years old have been downed in uptown Saint John,” according to a story in the television network CTV Atlantic.
Lee started as a tropical depression in the central Atlantic Ocean on September 5, 2023. On September 7, it intensified into a Category 5 storm with a windspeed of 160 miles per hour (mph).
“At peak strength, Lee packed winds of 165 mph, making it the strongest hurricane in the Atlantic basin since Dorian in 2019, which had catastrophic winds of 185 mph,” a report in Accuweather, a weather news publication.
The Canadian province has already faced at least three episodes of natural disasters this year, with a violent wildfire in May and deadly floods in July.
Lee is estimated to be weakening as it heads northward. Meanwhile, another storm named Hurricane Nigel is brewing over the central Atlantic and may “strengthen into a major hurricane in the coming days”, according to Accuweather.
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