Anja has continued to weaken over the last 24 hours, and NASA’s QuikScat satellite has confirmed that the once mighty Category 4 Cyclone is now a tropical storm in the southern Indian Ocean. Two instruments on NASA’s Aqua satellite have also helped forecasters determine Anja’s location and change of shape.

NASA’s QuikScat satellite uses microwave technology to peer through a tropical cyclone’s clouds, and actually read the speed of the rotating surface winds. In an overpass from space at 7:58 p.m. ET last night, November 18 (Nov. 19 at 0058 UTC), QuikScat noticed Anja’s maximum sustained winds have dropped to 63 mph, making it a tropical storm

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s damage assessment teams were touring Hampton Roads, Virginia this week and documenting damages. The assessment will help determine if the state of Virginia is eligible for federal disaster assistance.

Residents in eastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina were hit especially hard by the heavy rains from last week’s coastal low pressure area, formerly known as hurricane Ida. Employees at NASA’s Wallops Island facility in Wallops Island, Virginia had a first-hand experience with “Ida the coastal low.”

After receiving almost a foot of water in various areas, clean up efforts will continue for some time to come. “The basement of my home did experience some flooding,” Powell said. “Although frustrating, I know it can be cleaned up and repaired, however others weren’t as lucky, so I won’t complain.”