Long Island, southern New England brace for Hurricane Henri
People evacuated popular beach communities and made last-minute runs on batteries and gasoline as Hurricane Henri churned closer to Long Island and southern New England, while officials pleaded with the millions of people in the storm’s path to brace themselves for torrential rain and storm surges.
Hurricane Henri was on course to collide Sunday in the late morning or afternoon with a long stretch of coastline, as hurricane warnings extended from near the old whaling port of New Bedford, Massachusetts, across the luxurious oceanfront estates of New York’s Hamptons, to the summer getaway of Fire Island.
Intense winds and potentially dangerous tidal surges were expected as far east as Cape Cod and as far west as the New Jersey shore, and utilities warned ensuing power outages could last a week or even more.
Henri was veering a bit further west than originally expected, placing eastern Long Island in its bull’s-eye rather than New England.
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.
Approaching severe weather on Saturday night prompted the evacuation of Central Park during a superstar-laden concert headlined by Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon and Jennifer Hudson that was meant to celebrate New York City’s recovery from the coronavirus.
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.