This AccuWeather image shows the path that Isaias is forecasted to follow as the storm advances along the Eastern seaboard over the next four to five days.

By DEAN SHALHOUP

Senior Staff Writer

NASHUA – While Isaias will be nothing close to hurricane status when it arrives in these parts late Tuesday evening, it could still pack enough punch to whip up potentially damaging wind gusts and deliver soaking rainfall heavy enough to cause flooding in some areas.

“There doesn’t seem like there’s anything to be too concerned about, but we’re certainly paying attention to it,” city emergency management director Justin Kates said Monday afternoon.

The fact Isaias is not expected to stall over the Northeast as it makes its way up the coast and beyond has left forecasters confident that while some flooding will probably occur, it shouldn’t leave the kind of damage the region experienced with Irene in 2011.

This AccuWeather map illustrates the predicted rainfall and arrival times associated with Isaias for the Northeast including New England.

“That changed the perspective we have as an inland New England Community,” Kates said of Irene, citing in particular the damage Irene caused in some western New Hampshire and Vermont towns.

Similar to Isaias, Kates noted, Irene was also classified as a tropical storm just before striking central New England.

City officials don’t see the need to open an emergency communications center or designate emergency shelters, according to Kates – but that doesn’t mean certain precautions should be taken.

For instance, he said, the numerous tents, pop-up shelters and large dining umbrellas that people and businesses have erected for additional social-distancing space should be taken down before Isaias’s winds arrive.

Kates said city wastewater department officials have been preparing for the heavy rains, which are likely to cause ponding and temporary street flooding as the wastewater system tries to keep up with the deluge.

This AccuWeather map shows the areas for which tropical storm warnings and watches have been issued. Some watch areas may become warnings as Isaias churns northward.

Residents can report incidents of street flooding to the Public Works department by calling 589-3560. Because the storm’s peak is expected to be between Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, a call center will be answering phones outside of the department’s regular business hours.

For potentially serious, or life-threatening, issues, such as wires down, trees onto wires or onto structures or vehicles, residents should call 911, Kates said.

Meanwhile, state Homeland Security and Emergency Management officials announced Monday afternoon that the National Weather Service’s National Hurricane Center issued a tropical storm watch for the entire state.

The designation means that “sustained tropical storm-force winds of 39-73 mph are possible within the next 48 hours.”

In addition to the high winds and heavy rainfall, such storms are also known to spawn tornadoes, which the NWS said “can occur anywhere in New Hampshire.”

Officials caution that a widespread 2-4 inches of rainfall is possible with isolated amounts up to six inches across higher terrain, where residents are urged to keep a close eye on signs of flash flooding.

In the big picture, tropical storm warnings were issued Monday from the Carolinas to New York City, according to AccuWeather, whose meteorologists say the potential for flooding rainfall, damaging winds and coastal flooding exists for the entire Eastern seaboard.

“Even though Isaias lost some of its intensity while passing between Florida and the Bahamas this weekend, it is still a potentially dangerous and damaging tropical system and is expected to send copious amounts of moisture northward,” AccuWeather Northeast weather expert Elliot Abrams said.

“Along and just northwest of the I-95 corridor of the mid-Atlantic and southern New England, heavy windblown rain with embedded thunderstorms will be the central theme from Isaias,” Abrams said.

Another AccuWeather meteorologist, Rob Miller, is forecasting “a general 2-4 inches of rain … in the Northeast,” roughly half the amount anticipated farther south in eastern Virginia and parts of Maryland.

As for New Hampshire, emergency management director Jennifer Harper said officials “encourage everyone to stay informed, have a plan and make a kit including hand sanitizer and extra face coverings.”

Everyone is also reminded to keep their cell phones and other communications devices fully charged.

More information is available at ReadyNH.gov.

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.

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