New England prepares for Henri, its first hurricane in 30 years.
PLYMOUTH, Mass. — New Englanders bracing for their first hurricane in 30 years began hauling boats out of the water and taking other precautions Friday as Tropical Storm Henri barreled toward the Northeast coast.
Henri was expected to intensify into a hurricane by Saturday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Impacts could be felt in New England states by Sunday, including on Cape Cod, which is teeming with tens of thousands of tourists.
Henri’s track was imprecise, but as of 5 p.m. Friday, the National Weather Service suggested it might make landfall first in eastern Long Island before careening north. The White House said President Joe Biden was briefed on the storm’s track.
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker on Friday urged people vacationing on the Cape to leave well before Henri hits and those who planned to start vacations there to delay their plans. “We don’t want people to be stuck in traffic on the Cape Cod bridges when the storm is in full force on Sunday,” he said.
Mr. Baker said up to 1,000 National Guard troops were on standby to help with evacuations if needed.
“This storm is extremely worrisome,” said Michael Finkelstein, police chief and emergency management director in East Lyme, Conn. “We haven’t been down this road in quite a while, and there’s no doubt that we and the rest of New England would have some real difficulties with a direct hit from a hurricane.”
Mr. Finkelstein said he’s most concerned about lowlying areas of town that could become impossible to access because of flooding and a storm surge.
Thursday marked exactly 30 years since Hurricane Bob came ashore in Rhode Island as a Category 2 storm, killing at least 17 people and leaving behind more than $1.5 billion worth of damage. Bob, which left streets in coastal towns littered with boats blown free of their moorings, knocked out power and water to hundreds of thousands for days.
Large swaths of the Eastern seaboard were mopping up on Friday from the effects of Henri’s predecessor, Tropical Depression Fred. In North Carolina, Haywood County Sheriff Greg Christopher said four people died and five individuals remained unaccounted for, down from around 20 people reported missing on Thursday.
The weather service warned of the potential for damaging winds and widespread coastal flooding from Henri, and officials in Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York cautioned that people could lose power for a week or even longer. Authorities urged people to secure their boats, fuel up their vehicles and stock up on canned goods.
The system was centered in the Atlantic Ocean about 345 miles south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, N.C., and about 745 miles south of Montauk Point, N.Y. It had maximum sustained winds of 65 mph.
The hurricane watch stretched across the South Shore of Long Island from Fire Island Inlet to Montauk, and the North Shore from Port Jefferson Harbor to Montauk. It also covered the coast from New Haven, Conn., to Sagamore Beach, Mass.; and Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard and Block Island.
The main threats were expected to be storm surge, wind and rain, forecasters said. Storm surge between 3 and 5 feet was possible from Watch Hill, R.I., to Sagamore Beach.
Rainfall between 2 to 5 inches was expected Sunday through Monday over the region.