#Tropical storm warning issued for tri-state area as Isaias approaches

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Waves are driven by Tropical Storm Isaias crash over the jetty on the north side of the Palm Beach Inlet in Palm Beach Shores Sunday, Aug. 2, 2020.
AP

A tropical storm warning was issued Monday for the tri-state area as Tropical Storm Isaias is forecast to gain near hurricane strength on its trek toward the Carolinas – before unleashing pounding rain and strong winds on the Big Apple and surrounding areas Tuesday.

The storm had maximum sustained winds of 70 mph, forecasters said. A Category 1 hurricane has winds of 74 to 95 mph.

Heavy rain and strong winds are expected to sweep into the tri-state area by late Monday – with a tropical storm warning in effect for the Big Apple, Long Island, and parts of New Jersey and Connecticut.

Isaias is expected to dump between 2 to 4 inches of rain on the city on Tuesday, when the center of the storm will pass through in the afternoon, AccuWeather meteorologist Bill Deger told The Post.

“Coastal flooding and flash floods are the real problem with this storm,” he said, adding that wind gusts of between 30 and 50 mph also are possible. “This will be a wind-swept rain.”

Conditions are expected to improve quickly after the center of the storm leaves the area Tuesday afternoon, he added.

The National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane warning in South Carolina from South Santee River to Surf City in its 5 a.m. advisory.

The New York City Emergency Management Department said it was keeping an eye on Isaias. A flash flood watch has been issued for the city from 6 a.m. Tuesday until 6 a.m. Wednesday.

“Tropical Storm Isaias is forecast to move up the East Coast the next couple of days, according to the National Weather Service. “Tropical moisture will run up well ahead of the actual system. Locally heavy rainfall will be possible Tuesday morning through evening.”

“We are forecasting it to become a hurricane before it reaches the coast this evening,” senior hurricane specialist Daniel Brown said about the storm’s arrival in South Carolina.

“It’s forecast to produce a dangerous storm surge, of 3 to 5 feet (0.9 to 1.5 meters) in portions of North and South Carolina,” he said.

Isaias could bring heavy rains, too — up to 8 inches in area as it sweeps up the coast, Brown said —and “all those rains could produce flash flooding across portions of eastern Carolinas and mid-Atlantic, and even in the northeast US.”

With Post wires