Florence threatens Northeastern U.S. with flooding, storm surge

Hurricane Florence is intensifying as it churns across the Atlantic and is expected to hit the U.S. East Coast on Thursday — creating dangerous storm surge, heavy rain, flooding and destructive winds.

The Northeast Regional Climate Center, located at Cornell University, monitors and assesses climate impacts and conditions in the Northeastern region of the U.S. and is tracking the path of Hurricane Florence. The following researchers are available for interviews and can discuss landfall probabilities, past similar storms, and anticipated impacts of Florence.

Arthur DeGaetano is director of the Northeast Regional Climate Center, professor of earth and atmospheric sciences and an expert on climate data. He says that as the climate warms and sea levels rise, hurricanes such as Florence and tropical storms will cause higher storm surges, more rain, and heightened risk of flooding in the Northeast.

Bio: http://www.eas.cornell.edu/people/profile.cfm?netid=atd2_eng

DeGaetano says:

“It is unclear as to whether the frequency of hurricanes in the Atlantic will change in the coming decades. However, rising sea-levels will result in higher storm surge for those tropical storms and hurricanes that do occur. Warming temperatures and increased levels of moisture in the atmosphere will likely increase the rainfall associated with these storms. Currently in the Northeast inland flooding from rainfall is a major impact of some hurricanes.”

Jessica Spaccio is a climatologist with the Northeast Regional Climate Center.

Bio: http://www.eas.cornell.edu/people/research.cfm?netid=jlr98

Samantha Borisoff is a climatologist with the Northeast Regional Climate Center.

Bio: http://www.eas.cornell.edu/people/research.cfm?netid=sgh58

For interviews contact:
Jeff Tyson
Office: (607) 255-7701
Cell: (607) 793-5769
[email protected]

Cornell University has television, ISDN and dedicated Skype/Google+ Hangout studios available for media interviews.

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