Over the course of nearly a week, the tropical storm named Gordon has flown a path from the very tip of Florida all the way up to the coastal areas of Maine. While this recent onslaught of rain is a needed reprieve from drought conditions for the residents of Maine, Gordon could spell a looming disaster for other states on or near the East coast. This summer’s weather conditions only stand to compound severe weather on the Eastern seaboard.

Tropical Storm Gordon reached across a large area of land and dropped a great deal of rain in its wake. As stated by News Week, Gordon led to the fatality of a child in Florida, who was trapped in a mobile home after the storm caused a tree to fall on the building. No information has been released about the child yet, but no one else was harmed in the accident.

Luckily the tropical storm did not result in any further fatalities. However, this storm has made conditions worse for another weather occurrence, Hurricane Florence.

The storm made landfall in an area that has already received a great deal of rain this summer, and as stated by Accuweather, some areas have even had a record wet summer. This saturated soil makes large-scale flooding more likely. Earth and Space science teacher Gordon Williamson has said “…most damage and most deaths occur because of flooding”, in relation to hurricanes. It is impossible to tell to what impact this flooding will have, and what long-term changes it may cause.

At this point, meteorologists’ projections of the remainder of hurricane season are largely guesswork, and it cannot be certainly stated if or when the next major ocean storm will hit or what course it will take. It is safe to assume however that people should do their best to stay safe. People also need to keep those more impacted by this weather out of harm’s way, as they  did during hurricane Harvey.