As storm moves off East Coast, flooding eases and bridges begin reopening

East Coast storm begins to move out to sea

OCEAN CITY, N.J. — A powerful storm born from the remnants of Tropical Storm Ida began moving out to sea Friday after raking the East Coast for three days, leaving behind it a trail of flooding, damaged buildings, eroded beaches and at least six deaths.

The nor’easter caused widespread problems in Virginia and the Carolinas before hitting the Jersey shore. Flooding was to remain a concern in coastal communities through high tide Saturday morning.

Several shops were evacuated in Washington, D.C., because of the threat of a building collapse possibly related to heavy rains. Construction work was under way at a row of buildings when the walls started to crack and separate.

Saturated ground after the recent rains may be a factor, the D.C. fire department said.

Several vessels carrying hazardous cargo broke loose from their moorings in Virginia during the storm. Crews were working to stabilize a 570-foot barge carrying containers of chemicals in the Sandbridge area of Virginia Beach.

Work crews boarded the barge and were riding out the storm with it, hoping it would run aground and could be towed away when the weather improves. A similar fate awaits a 700-foot oil tanker that broke loose and ran aground on a sandbar in the James River in Newport News, Va.

In New Jersey, bridges into Ocean City and Wildwood reopened by mid-afternoon after being closed for much of the day because of flooding.

“We think we got by the worst of what this storm is going to offer us,” said Frank Donato, Ocean City’s emergency management director. But between high tides very little of the flood waters had been able to dissipate, he said.

“Many of the neighborhoods in town are still completely flooded,” he said.

No one in New Jersey was ordered to evacuate, and only about 100 people showed up at temporary shelters, said Nick Morici, a spokesman for the state Office of Emergency Management.

The storm wrecked dunes in several coastal communities including Ocean City, Atlantic City, and on Long Beach Island, where a beach replenishment project is partially finished.

In Manasquan, Joe Duska, a 66-year-old retiree, was photographing 15-foot waves smashing against an inlet rock jetty. Duska said he drove up and down the central New Jersey coastline a few days ago and looked at beaches, knowing a storm was coming, hoping to compare them with what would be left after the storm.

“The beaches are smaller already,” he said. “You can see it.”

New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection had planned to send crews to assess how much erosion the storm has caused. But they scrapped that plan Friday afternoon because the weather was too bad. They’ll go Monday instead.

In Delaware, tides washed out dunes, leaving several feet of water and 3 feet of sand along state Route 1. Transportation officials say it may take two days to clear the sand. And North Carolina officials closed roads and at least three ferry routes along the coast Friday due to heavy flooding.

National Weather Service meteorologist Lee Robertson said the storm was heading out to sea Friday afternoon. After slamming much of the U.S. coastline as it moved from south to north, serious flooding was not a danger north of New Jersey, he said.

Saturday morning’s high tide would probably be the last to cause concern, he added.

The storm has been blamed for at least six deaths across three states.

Virginia State Police confirmed a fourth storm-related traffic death in the state Friday when a car ran off a highway and hit a light pole and a tree.

In New York City, a 36-year-old surfer died after getting caught in pounding surf churned up by the storm. In North Carolina, an elderly man standing in his yard was killed when a pine tree was snapped off by strong wind and fell on him.

The Coast Guard has halted the search for three missing New Jersey fishermen whose boat sank in rough seas Wednesday night.

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Geoff Mulvihill in Mount Laurel, N.J.; Steve Szkotak in Norfolk, Va.; Zinie Chen Sampson in Richmond, Va.; and Pam Ramsey in Charleston, W.Va.