Hurricane Nate, Weaker After Landfall, Expected To Dump Rain On New York

After killing dozens of people and causing widespread flooding in Central America, Hurricane Nate made landfall at the mouth of the Mississippi River, near Biloxi, on Saturday night, and was quickly downgraded to a tropical storm. With sustained winds up to 85 miles-per-hour, the fast-moving storm left more than 100,000 homes in Mississippi and Alabama without power. But no deaths or injuries were immediately reported, and authorities say the storm missed major population centers, including New Orleans.

The National Hurricane Center is predicting "rapid weakening" for Nate, though some coastal communities are already experiencing a storm surge. According to AccuWeather meteorologist Eric Leister, "Nate is going to be racing northeastward."

That path will eventually bring remnants of the storm to New York, so expect to start the week with a few days of heavy rain. Per ABC-7, "The heaviest rain is expected to the north and west of the city. Minor urban flooding is possible with rainfall amounts in the 1-3 inch range. There's also the potential for 15-20 mph winds with stronger gusts."

While some coastal communities are currently experiencing a storm surge, early reports indicate that Nate may not have caused as much damage as was initially expected.

"I think we dodged a bullet," Louisiana Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser told CNN on Saturday night. "I think we got the dry side of the storm."

Biloxi's public affairs manager, Vincent Creel, also told the outlet, "We were well aware that this could've been a much more serious storm. There was talk of it being a Category 2 with an 11-feet tidal surge when it came ashore. It did not, happily, it did not live up to that billing."

In Central America, at least 30 people have been confirmed dead as a result of the hurricane—with 16 confirmed casualties in Nicaragua, 10 in Costa Rica, two in Honduras and two in El Salvador. In the aftermath of the destruction, Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solis called it the greatest crisis in the country's history, appealing to the international community for help and noting that more than 11,000 people had been left homeless.

"It started to lower the water and that allows us to visualize rivers and, in a preliminary sense, to begin to measure the greatest crisis Costa Rica has had in its recorded history," he said. "It is not a small thing and therefore we need that valuation that will allow us to evaluate the costs and how we will collect those resources."