MARSHFIELD, MASS. (WHDH) - Officials in towns up and down the coast are telling residents to get their boats out of the water as Hurricane Lee brings up to 60 mph winds, storm surges and winds this weekend as much of the area is under a tropical storm watch.
Hurricane Lee is bringing a tropical storm watch to all of coastal Massachusetts and a storm surge watch to to Barnstable County and Nantucket. Wind gusts are expected to hit 50-60 mph in the storm watch and more than 10-foot storm surges potentially into the bay.
Harbormasters in places like Marshfield are telling people to pull their smaller boats out of the water. Residents should also secure their larger vessels, ensure the pumps are working on board and cover the batteries.
Effects of both the tropical storm and storm surge could hit near Chatham this weekend, which is a potentially deadly combination.
According to the National Hurricane Center, high wind gusts and potentially the outer bands of the storm could hit Saturday morning. A tropical storm watch was officially put in place Wednesday afternoon.
The storm could cause storm surges of up to four feet in some places, particularly on the Cape where a storm surge watch is in place.
The Marshfield harbormaster said boaters should have a 72-hour plan before the storm to secure their vessels.
“This is similar to our typical nor’easters, so the preparation is kind of the same, along those lines. We’re always going to get the flooding, the high winds, rip currents, high seas, things like that,” the harbormaster said. “We do our social media outreach through the police department and currently we’re also working with some of the smaller boats, some of the small boats are being hauled out.”
He also said to reach out to any local harbormaster as a resource as Hurricane Lee approaches.
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