Sandbags And Warnings As Northeast U.S. Braces For Storm-Driven Flood

Businesses blocked doors with sandbags and officials warned residents of waterfront homes to be ready to evacuate as the northeastern United States braced for a powerful storm on Friday that threatened to flood coasts from Maine to North Carolina. Along Boston’s Long Wharf, near the Fanueil Hall tourist area, large piles of sandbags were in place around a subway station and a Marriott hotel, a spot that flooded with icy seawater during an early January storm. Heavy rains, monthly extreme high tides and a wind-driven storm surge could combine to cause several feet of water to flow onto streets in coastal parts of Boston and up and down the shoreline, government and private weather forecasters warned.