Storm Elara made landfall on the northern coast shortly after dawn and weakened faster than forecasters had feared, sparing the region the winds that had prompted the largest precautionary evacuation in a decade. By evening the storm had been downgraded, and the relief was audible in the briefings. The relief may be premature.
The winds were never the whole danger. The storm arrived over ground already saturated by an unusually wet spring, and the rain it carried inland has nowhere to go. Rivers that were high before Elara are now cresting, and the flooding that follows a storm inland often outlasts, and outkills, the storm itself.
Emergency services have shifted their posture accordingly, from wind to water. The evacuation orders that emptied the coastal towns are being extended, in some cases, to communities well inland that expected to be safe. “People prepare for the storm they can hear,” one coordinator said. “The dangerous part is the quiet part, three days later, when the water is still rising and everyone has gone home.”
The full extent of the damage will not be clear until the rivers peak, expected over the coming days. For now the coast is counting a narrow escape from the wind and bracing for a slower reckoning with the rain.
