Henri weakened slightly to a tropical storm early Sunday, but it still contained gusts of up to 75 mph in some areas, as it was planned to attack a long stretch of northeast coast, where millions on New York’s Long Island and southern New England go prepare for the possibility of flooding, felling trees and prolonged electrical outages.
With the storm center projected to pass right on the eastern tip of Long Island at noon, hurricane warnings spread from the shores of Connecticut and Rhode Island to the luxurious farms in front of the Hamptons Sea in New York.
The storm had sustained maximum winds of 70 mph (110 km / h) in an 8 a.m. EDT update of the U.S. National Hurricane Center, timidly due to the hurricane state. The highest winds were measured at 121 km / h off the coast of Rhode Island.
Experts warned that the biggest threat of the storm is likely not to come from the wind, but from storm surges and flooding inland, caused by what are expected to be heavy and sustained rains.
In preparation for the storm, officials in Providence, Rhode Island and New Bedford, Massachusetts, closed barriers against giant hurricanes that were built in the 1960s, after devastating storms in 1938 and 1954.
The Massachusetts Steamship Authority canceled ferry service between the mainland and the popular vacation islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket until at least noon on Sunday after the U.S. Coast Guard closed its ports. Cape Cod and New Bedford. Tourists waiting with their cars, waiting for a last-minute ferry in front of the islands, were trapped until Henri’s worst happens.
The first storms that produced up to 15 inches of rain came on Saturday afternoon and flooding began in some areas overnight. Heavy rain bands overflowed the storm drains and drivers plowed through deep water at some points in New York City and Newark and Hoboken, New Jersey.
Heavy tropical storm winds began hitting the coast Sunday morning. The rising tide threatened to produce dangerous storm surges.
People on the projected road rushed Saturday to stock up on groceries and gas. Those close to the shore went up to the windows and in some cases were evacuated.
Residents and visitors were urged to Fire Island, a narrow strip of sandy villages just above sea level on the south coast of Long Island. The last boats to leave left before 11pm on Saturday and officials warned there would be no way to reach the people behind.
The evacuation threw a wrench at Kristen Pavese’s bachelorette party. The group of ten people planned to celebrate Saturday night, but ended up leaving the ferry just a day after arriving. They planned to stay until Monday.
“It simply came to our notice then. I can’t control anything, “said Pavese, a Long Island resident. “I’m going to go to Fire Island for a long time, so I’m familiar with that fact.”
The approach to severe weather Saturday night also interrupted a superstar-laden concert in Central Park. The show, led by Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon and Jennifer Hudson, aimed to celebrate New York City’s recovery from the coronavirus. But officials asked the concertgoers to leave the park during Barry Manilow’s set amid the threat of lightning.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who will step down on Monday after resigning over a sexual harassment scandal, emerged Saturday to ask New York residents to make last-minute preparations.
Gov. Ned Lamont warned Connecticut residents that they should prepare to “take refuge in their place” from Sunday afternoon until at least Monday morning as the state prepares for the first direct hit of a hurricane in decades. Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee issued a similar warning.
Some gas stations from Cape Cod to Long Island were sold without fuel. Southampton City Supervisor Jay Schneiderman described a supply of supplies such as batteries and flashlights as people “start to wake up” as weather models showed the center of the storm would work “in the city of Southampton “.
The region’s major airports remained open as the storm approached, although hundreds of flights were canceled on Sunday. Service at some branches of the New York City suburban rail system was suspended until Sunday, as was Amtrak service between New York and Boston.
The White House said President Joe Biden discussed preparations with Northeastern governors and that New York Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul, who succeeds Cuomo on Tuesday, was also involved.
Subsequently, Biden began approving emergency declarations with Rhode Island.
New York has not had the direct success of a powerful cyclone since Superstorm Sandy wreaked havoc in 2012. Some of the major repairs to this storm have been completed, but many projects designed to protect themselves from future storms remain unfinished.
Regardless of their exact arrival, wide impacts were expected in a large northeastern strip, extending inland to Hartford, Connecticut and Albany, New York, and east to Cape Cod, which springs from tens of thousands of summer tourists.
Storm rains between 1 and 1.5 meters were possible in much of Long Island Sound as far as Chatham, Massachusetts, and a little less on the Atlantic coast of Long Island, the hurricane center said. Instant flooding was possible in inland areas already saturated by recent rain.
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Hill reported from Albany, New York. Associated Press writers William J. Kole in Warwick, Rhode Island, Mallika Sen and Larry Neumeister in New York, Mike Melia in Hartford, Connecticut, and Mark Pratt in Waltham, Massachusetts, contributed to this report.