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NEW: Atlantic City concerts canceled due to forecast
Hermine moving through Carolinas, toward Atlantic
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(CNN) —
Much of the Carolinas was being drenched by rain Friday as Tropical Hermine slid up the East Coast after knocking down trees and leaving hundreds of thousands without power in Florida.
Forecasters with the National Weather Service said as many as 7 inches of rain could fall, and in isolated areas it could be more than that.
A flash flood watch was issued for northeast South Carolina and southeast North Carolina though Saturday morning.
The path of the storm, which smashed into Florida’s Panhandle as a Category 1 hurricane Friday morning, is projected to move through the North Carolina coast Friday night and head into the Atlantic Ocean on Saturday.
The Labor Day weekend worry? Rough seas, dangerous surf and strong storm surge up the coast as far north as Connecticut.
The New York City Emergency Management office said no swimming will be allowed on beaches Sunday. Mayor Bill De Blasio said the city is considering closing the beaches to swimmers on Monday and Tuesday, too.
Long Island beaches remain closed, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said.
In New Jersey, Atlantic City officials announced two outdoor concerts were canceled.
When Hermine ripped into St. Marks in Florida’s Big Bend region just before 2 a.m. Friday, it became the first hurricane to come ashore in the state since Wilma struck 11 years ago.
“There’s nothing open in our county right now,” sheriff’s Maj. Trey Morrison said Friday in Wakulla County, where Hermine made landfall. He said he heard a report of a driver crashing early Friday into a fallen tree.
“If it’s not an emergency, we don’t need people out,” he said.
One person died in Florida as Hermine approached. John Mayes, 56, was sleeping in a tent behind a gas station in Ocala, about 65 miles northwest of Orlando, when a tree fell onto him Thursday night, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said.
Photos: Hermine storms into Florida
PHOTO:
Tom Copeland/AP
Eli White covers his face from the blowing sand in Nags Head, North Carolina, Saturday, September 3, as the tail of Tropical Storm Hermine passes the Outer Banks. Hermine hit Florida's Gulf Coast on Friday as a hurricane but has since weakened.
Photos: Hermine storms into Florida
PHOTO:
Tom Copeland/AP
Water from Roanoke Sound pounds the Virginia Dare Trail in Manteo, North Carolina, September 3 as Tropical Storm Hermine passes the Outer Banks.
Photos: Hermine storms into Florida
PHOTO:
Tom Copeland/AP
A unidentified man watches the rising water from his home in Hatteras, North Carolina, after Tropical Storm Hermine passed the Outer Banks.
Photos: Hermine storms into Florida
PHOTO:
Tom Copeland/AP
Two structures sit flooded in the creek behind the Hatteras Sands Campground in Hatteras, North Carolina.
Photos: Hermine storms into Florida
PHOTO:
John Raoux/AP
Gus Soldatos and his father, Nick, unload lumber to make repairs on their building September 3, after Hurricane Hermine passed through Cedar Key, Florida.
Photos: Hermine storms into Florida
PHOTO:
Jay Diem/The Daily Times/AP
Karen Duer-Potts uses her cellphone to take a photograph of the sunset as the outer band of Hermine creeps over the beach at Cape Charles, Virginia, on September 2.
Photos: Hermine storms into Florida
PHOTO:
John Raoux/AP
A street in Cedar Key, Florida, is blocked by debris washed up in the tidal surge of Hurricane Hermine on September 2.
Photos: Hermine storms into Florida
PHOTO:
Brian Blanco/Getty Images
Lynne Garrett speaks to loved ones as she surveys damage outside of her home in St. Marks, Florida, on Friday, September 2.
Photos: Hermine storms into Florida
PHOTO:
Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images
Tom Reams looks at a tree that fell on his house and his daughter's car in Alligator Point, Florida.
Photos: Hermine storms into Florida
PHOTO:
Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images
Residents look at an Alligator Point road that collapsed during Hermine's storm surge.
Photos: Hermine storms into Florida
PHOTO:
Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images
People check damage to a boat in their neighborhood in Shell Point Beach, Florida.
Photos: Hermine storms into Florida
PHOTO:
John Raoux/AP
Shawn Stephenson and Marshall Dimick clear water from a real estate office that was flooded by Hermine in Cedar Key, Florida.
Photos: Hermine storms into Florida
PHOTO:
Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images North America/Getty Images
High winds bend a flagpole in Shell Point Beach early on September 2.
Photos: Hermine storms into Florida
PHOTO:
John Raoux/AP
A news reporter works near a sea wall in Cedar Key, Florida, as Hermine neared the coast on Thursday, September 1.
Photos: Hermine storms into Florida
PHOTO:
John Raoux/AP
A police car blocks a flooded road that leads to Cedar Key on September 1.
Photos: Hermine storms into Florida
PHOTO:
Brian Blanco/Getty Images
Residents of the Sandpiper Resort survey rising water in Holmes Beach, Florida, on September 1.
Photos: Hermine storms into Florida
PHOTO:
John Raoux/AP
Workers in Cedar Key install storm shutters on a storefront as they prepare for Hermine on September 1.
Photos: Hermine storms into Florida
PHOTO:
Brian Blanco/Getty Images
A Holmes Beach resident walks through the Sandpiper Resort on September 1.
Photos: Hermine storms into Florida
PHOTO:
Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images
Sgt. Andy Pace and Lt. Allen Ham of the Franklin County Sheriff's Department jump-start one of their vehicles as Hermine approaches on September 1.
Photos: Hermine storms into Florida
PHOTO:
Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images
Traffic moves along U.S. Route 98 as Hermine approaches Eastpoint, Florida, on September 1.
Photos: Hermine storms into Florida
PHOTO:
Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images
Power crews from South Carolina arrive in Carrabelle, Florida, on September 1.
Photos: Hermine storms into Florida
PHOTO:
Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images
Sunken and beached boats line the shore in Eastpoint on September 1.
A medical examiner’s office has yet to determine whether the storm was the cause, Florida Gov. Rick Scott said.
About 70,000 homes and businesses were left without power in the Tallahassee area, where sustained winds of up to 80 mph toppled utility poles onto ground saturated by inches of rain.
Videos and pictures shared on social media showed damaged streets near the landfall point and downed trees throughout much of the state.
Hermine’s outer bands also dropped more rain in the Tampa and