Hurricane Lee tracker: Hurricane watch issued in New England as flooding threat to Boston, New York

The deadly firestorm in Hawaii and Hurricane Idalia’s watery storm surge helped push the United States to a record for the number of weather disasters that cost $1 billion or more. And there’s still four months to go on what’s looking more like a calendar of calamities.

And NOAA’s count doesn’t yet include Tropical Storm Hilary’s damages in hitting California and a deep drought that has struck the South and Midwest because those costs are still to be totaled, said Adam Smith, the NOAA applied climatologist and economist who tracks the billion-dollar disasters.

The National Weather Service office serving Portland, Maine, shared an image showing the size of Hurricane Lee as it approaches the US east coast.

Hurricane Lee is expected to produce tropical storm force winds along the US east coast in the coming days, and Bermuda has already closed schools for Thursday and Friday as it feels the effects of the passing storm.

A trio of cars were left dangling on the edges of a sinkhole outside a dealership in Massachusetts following severe flooding in the area earlier this week.

The sinkhole opened up in the city of Leominster after heavy rains destabilised the ground and opened up a 15-foot deep chasm.

Public works crews expressed concerns that the flood and subsequent sinkhole might have weakened the foundation of a home near the affected area. The couple living in the house were forced to leave on Monday night.

Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency issued a checklist of preparations for residents on Thursday as Hurricane Lee is expected to bring “life-threatening” conditions to parts of the state.

The government of Bermuda shared updates on safety measures as Hurricane Lee began to impact the island early on Thursday.

Schools were closed on Thursday and Friday, and citizens were asked to stay off the roads.

Ferry services had also been suspended and L.F. Wade International Airport in St George’s was closed at noon.

A satellite image, from 8am (eastern) on Thursday, shows Hurricane Lee in the Atlantic Ocean.

Lee looks poised to wallop New England even as the region still deals with the impact of days of wild weather that produced torrential rain, flooding, sinkholes and a likely tornado.

Thursday morning storm surge warnings from the National Hurricane Center (NHC) at 11am Thursday for Massachusetts and New York are as follows:

“The combination of storm surge and tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline,” NHC reported.

“The water could reach the following heights above ground somewhere in the indicated areas if the peak surge occurs at the time of high tide.” – Chatham, MA to Sagamore Beach, MA: 2-4 ft

– Sagamore Beach, MA to Border of US/Canada:1-3 ft

– Flushing, NY to Chatham, MA:1-3 ft

– Montauk Point, NY to Flushing, NY: 1-3 ft

– Long Island Sound: 1-3 ft

– Martha’s Vineyard: 1-3 ft

– Rockaway Inlet, NY to Montauk Point, NY: 1-2 ft

Earth is exceeding its “safe operating space for humanity” in six of nine key measurements of its health, and two of the remaining three are headed in the wrong direction, a new study said.

Earth’s climate, biodiversity, land, freshwater, nutrient pollution and “novel” chemicals (human-made compounds like microplastics and nuclear waste) are all out of whack, a group of international scientists said in Wednesday’s journal Science Advances.

Only the acidity of the oceans, the health of the air and the ozone layer are within the boundaries considered safe, and both ocean and air pollution are heading in the wrong direction, the study said.

“We are in very bad shape,” said study co-author Johan Rockstrom, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany.

“We show in this analysis that the planet is losing resilience and the patient is sick.”