Tornado Watch And Tropical Storm Warning For Southern New England Tuesday Afternoon

The National Weather Service has issued a tropical storm warning for southern New England and surrounding coastal waters, as the storm Isaias makes its way up the eastern coast of the U.S. (Isaias made landfall late Monday night in the Carolinas as a Category 1 hurricane.)

In addition, NWS has issued a tornado watch for all of Massachusetts and parts of other New England states until 9 p.m. A tornado watch, according to NWS, means conditions exist for thunderstorms to spawn tornadoes, but are not an imminent warning of one; that being said, NWS says to "be prepared."

The weather service says wind gusts could reach 40 to 60 miles per hour Tuesday afternoon or evening in parts of the region. Western Massachusetts is expected to see the heaviest rainfall at up to four inches; eastern Massachusetts should see scattered thunderstorms and wind gusts of up to 50 miles an hour.

"You're going to see tropical storm force winds, especially gusts, so I would anticipate some tree damage, especially over central and eastern Massachusetts where the stronger winds will be," said National Weather Service meteorologist Alan Dunham.

As of 7 p.m. Tuesday, there were more than 200,000 homes and businesses statewide without power. (You could view updated outages here.)

Other potential impacts for Massachusetts include flooding, isolated tornadoes and rip currents, according to NWS.

Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency spokesman Chris Besse is urging people in areas prone to flooding to take precautions like elevating items in a basement that regularly floods, ensuring sump pump's are working and cleaning out leaves from storm drains.

Gov. Charlie Baker says if people are going to be driving during the storm, they need to take precautions.

"If you're going out, you should take it very slow and allow plenty of extra time to get to where it is you're going," he said Tuesday morning. "And we urge everyone to use caution and if you can, stay home and stay inside. Stay safe."