Hurricane Henri closes in as the Northeast braces for impact

Hurricane Henri edged closer to landfall as millions on New York's Long Island and in southern New England braced for flooding, toppled trees and extended power outages

Tropical Weather Atlantic (Copyright The Associated Press 2021)

Hurricane Henri kept on course early Sunday to crash into a long stretch of northeastern coastline, as millions on New York’s Long Island and in southern New England braced for flooding, toppled trees and extended power outages.

With the center of the storm projected to pass over or just off the eastern tip of Long Island by midday, hurricane warnings extended from coastal Connecticut and near the old whaling port of New Bedford, Massachusetts, to across the luxurious oceanfront estates of New York’s Hamptons, to the summer getaway of Fire Island.

The first thunderstorms bringing what could be up to half a foot (15 centimeters) of rain arrived late Saturday, and storm surges and flooding were expected in some areas overnight.

People in the projected path spent Saturday scrambling to stock up on groceries and gasoline. Those close to the coast boarded up windows and, in some cases, evacuated.

Residents and visitors on Fire Island, a narrow strip of sandy villages barely above sea level off Long Island’s southern coast, were urged to evacuate. The last boats out were leaving at 10:40 p.m. Saturday.

The evacuation threw a wrench into Kristen Pavese’s planned Fire Island bachelorette party. The group of 10 had intended to celebrate out on Saturday night, but ended up leaving on the ferry just a day after arriving. They had planned to stay until Monday.

“I’m upset about it, but it’s the weather. It’s nothing I can control,” said Pavese, a Long Island resident. “I’ve been going to Fire Island for a long time, so I’m sort of familiar with this happening.”

Approaching severe weather Saturday night also cut short a superstar-laden concert in Central Park. The show headlined by Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon and Jennifer Hudson was meant to celebrate New York City’s recovery from the coronavirus. But officials asked concertgoers to leave the park during Barry Manilow’s set amid the threat of lightning.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo set to leave office Monday after resigning over a sexual harassment scandal, emerged Saturday to plead with New York residents to make last-minute preparations, warning that heavy rain, wind and storm surge from Henri could be as devastating as Superstorm Sandy back in 2012.

“We have short notice. We’re talking about tomorrow,” Cuomo said in one of his final forays before TV cameras, a setting that shot him to fame during the worst of the pandemic last year. “So if you have to move, if you have to stock up, if you have to get to higher ground, it has to be today. Please.”

Gov. Ned Lamont warned Connecticut residents they should prepare to “shelter in place” from Sunday afternoon through at least Monday morning as the state braces for the first possible direct hit from a hurricane in decades. Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee issued a similar warning.

Major airports in the region remained open as the storm approached, though hundreds of Sunday's flights were canceled. Service on some branches of New York City’s commuter rail system was suspended through 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 Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, who succeeds Cuomo on Tuesday, also participated.

Biden later began approving emergency declarations with Rhode Island.

New York hasn’t had a direct hit from a powerful cyclone since Superstorm Sandy wreaked havoc in 2012. Some of the most important repairs from that storm have been completed, but many projects designed to protect against future storms remain unfinished.

With a top wind of 75 mph (120 kph), just above hurricane strength, Henri sped up to move north at 21 mph (38 kph) as of Saturday night. It was still about 180 miles (290 kilometers) south-southeast of Montauk Point on the tip of Long Island.

Gas stations from Cape Cod to Long Island began to sell out of fuel. Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman described a run on supplies like batteries and flashlights as people “are starting to wake up” as weather models showed the storm's center would run “smack on the town of Southampton.”

Regardless of its exact landfall, broad impacts were expected across a large swath of the Northeast, extending inland to Hartford, Connecticut, and Albany, New York, and eastward to Cape Cod, which is teeming with tens of thousands of summer tourists.

Storm surge between 3 and 5 feet (1 to 1.5 meters) is possible from Flushing, New York, to Chatham, Massachusetts, and for parts of the North Shore and South Shore of Long Island, the hurricane center said. Flash flooding was possible in inland areas already saturated by recent rain.

In the Hamptons, the celebrity playground on Long Island’s east end, officials warned of dangerous rip currents and flooding that’s likely to turn streets like the mansion-lined Dune Road into lagoons.

“We have a lot of wealthy people. There’s no doubt that we do, but everybody pulls together in an emergency,” Schneiderman said. “So, you know, yeah, there are people hanging out on their yachts at the moment drinking martinis, but they’re also starting to talk about this storm and I’m sure they’re going to want to be helpful.”

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Hill reported from Albany, New York. Associated Press writers Mallika Sen and Larry Neumeister in New York, Mike Melia in Hartford, Connecticut, and Mark Pratt in Waltham, Massachusetts, contributed to this report.