Henri strengthens to hurricane
Big increase in expected power outages
Henri strengthened to a Category 1 hurricane Saturday and continued to take aim at Connecticut, staying on course for an expected direct hit on Sunday morning.
A hurricane warning remains in effect for parts of Connecticut with storm surge along the coast expected to reach up to 3-5 feet.
Gov. Ned Lamont urged Connecticut residents to stay inside and to prepare for widespread flooding and power outages across the state due to the incoming hurricane combined with other recent weather conditions.
He said that due to an increase in rain in recent weeks, the ground is much more likely to flood.
“It’s like a sponge,” Lamont said.
He added that the timing of a full moon this weekend will cause “astronomical tides” that will add to the flooding risk.
Lamont said he’s been assured by utility companies that they are prepared to deal with outages, even as Eversource estimated that 50-69 percent of its customers could lose power for 8-21 days and United Illuminating projected up to 50 percent of its customers could lose power for an undisclosed amount of time.
The power companies faced significant criticism for their responses to last year’s Tropical Storm Isaias, when about 750,000 customers lost power for as long as a week.
Lamont said that despite the severe risk of flooding and power outages, the state is well-prepared
for the incoming storm.
“I don’t think Connecticut has ever been as well prepared for a storm,” Lamont said.
He said emergency personnel are ready to evacuate at-risk residents if needed, including those in nursing homes. A number of coastal communities had already started evacuating residents Saturday.
Lamont also called for 200 members of the National Guard to be prepared to conduct searchand-rescue missions, as well as clear routes, help with power and distribute goods if needed. Lamont met by phone with Biden and area governors earlier on Saturday.
While Sunday morning should see some rain and wind, the worst is expected to reach Connecticut by the afternoon. Forecasters said the storm will move slowly once it reaches land.
No area of the state is expected to escape impact. Initial projections were that Henri would affect New Haven and east the most, but the storm's western shift puts residents in and around Greenwich, Stamford, Norwalk, Bridgeport, and Danbury in its path.
The National Weather Service issued a hurricane warning for Northern Middlesex, Northern New Haven and Northern New London counties. A storm surge and hurricane warning are in effect for southern Middlesex, southern New Haven and southern New London counties.
A storm surge and tropical storm warning was issued for southern Fairfield County. The weather service issued just a tropical storm warning for the northern part of Fairfield County.
Eversource’s estimates are from the University of Connecticut and Eversource Energy Center’s Outage Prediction Modeling group.
The group is predicting a “high impact” in each town, according to Diego Cerrai, the team leader for the Outage Prediction Model group and an assistant professor of the University of Connecticut’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Cerrai compared the storm’s impact to Hurricane Isaias, which put 500,000 Eversource customers without power last year.
All of Connecticut’s shoreline is under a storm surge watch, meaning “there is a possibility of lifethreatening inundation, from rising water moving inland from the coastline," the National Weather Service said.
Dan Warzoha, the emergency management director for Greenwich, said “This could be the biggest storm event that we’ve seen since Superstorm Sandy,” and possibly Hurricane Bob in 1991.
New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker Saturday advised some residents to evacuate low-lying areas of the city Saturday afternoon, as Hurricane Henri headed “straight towards us.”
Elicker said the city was now expecting three for five feet of storm surge and four to six inches
of rain, an increase from what was predicted yesterday afternoon.
New Haven Emergency Management Director Rick Fontana advised residents of the seriousness of the impending storm, saying the city had not dealt with its like for decades.
The town of Madison issued a mandatory evacuation for all residents south of the Boston Post Road. Those residents must evacuate by 9 p.m. Saturday.
State Rep. Sean Scanlon announced mandatory evacuation orders for residents in high-risk areas of Guilford and Branford just before 6 p.m. Saturday.
Groton, a city along the shoreline, recommended a voluntary evacuation starting at 10 p.m. Saturday for some of its residents.
The city, in partnership with the Red Cross, will be opening a shelter at Fitch High School, 101 Groton Long Point Road, starting Saturday at 6 p.m. People wishing to stay in the shelter should bring
pillows, blankets, clothing, medicine and special food if needed. Masks are required and people will be screened before entering.
Mayor Joe Ganim declared a storm emergency for the city of Bridgeport as of 5 p.m. Saturday and told residents to “prepare for the worst.”
Gary Lessor, chief meteorologist for Western Connecticut State University, compared the storm to Hurricane Irene in 2011.
“Everybody should be taking some precaution,” Lessor said, adding residents should have groceries for up to five days.
The storm will be at or near hurricane strength when it makes landfall in Long Island or southern New England on Sunday morning, the weather service said.
Connecticut can expect rain and wind starting between 6 and 8 a.m. Sunday, Lessor said. Around 2 p.m., the storm will make landfall in central and coastal Connecticut, probably somewhere between
New Haven and Madison, he said.
There will be wind gusts of more than 40 mph through the afternoon into the evening. The strongest winds — possibly up to 70 mph — will most likely occur by 2 p.m., the meteorologist added.
The strong winds could cause potential roof damage, as well as snap or uproot large trees, according to the National Weather Service.
The hurricane will bring minor to moderate coastal flooding during noontime high tide. Tides will be 2 to 2.5 feet taller than normal, according to Lessor.
Ocean swells from the storm are expected to last through the weekend and may bring potentially life-threatening surf and rip currents, the weather service said.
There will be about 2.5 to 6.5 inches of rainfall throughout the state. More rainfall will be seen in the central and west central regions, the meteorologist said.
Residents can stop worrying about increasing power outages by 12 a.m. Monday, Lessor said, as most of the damage will have already been done.
Though that’s well after the worst of the wind at 2 p.m., Lessor says that the wind, combined with the rain, will loosen the soil, knocking down more trees throughout the day and causing more power outages. Rain will continue to fall through Sunday night and possibly Monday.
Lessor advised residents to not travel outside of their homes after 10 a.m. Sunday.
On Monday, there will still be the possibility of rain and a breeze of about 30 to 35 mph, Lessor said.
Metro-North on Saturday suspended service on the New Haven line for Sunday. That includes the New Canaan, Danbury and Waterbury branches. Service will operate every two hours on the Hudson and Harlem Lines, and there will be no buses on the Waterbury branch.
The state also suspended bus services for Sunday, including:
• All CTtransit services which operate in Hartford, New Haven, Stamford, Waterbury, New Britain, Bristol, Meriden, Wallingford, and surrounding communities
• All CTfastrak services which provide direct service to and from Waterbury, Cheshire, Southington, Bristol, Plainville, New Britain, Newington, West Hartford, Hartford, and Manchester
• All CTtransit express services statewide
• Local transit district and paratransit services may also be affected. Customers should check the web site of their service provider for up-to-date information.
Approximately 63 trucks from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, arrived in Westover Air Reserve Base Friday evening and Saturday morning. The trucks brought provisions, such as bottled water, tarps, food and other emergency supplies, to serve all of New England during the storm.
Field crews from the U.S. Geological Survey are installing up to 62 storm tide sensors Saturday to track Hurricane Henri’s effects on the Atlantic coast.
The sensors are being installed from Long Island, New York to Cape Cod, Massachusetts. More than 20 scientists will install between 35 and 50 storm tide sensors along the Connecticut and Rhode Island coasts into Massachusetts.
These sensors will provide water level and wave data that local, state and federal officials can use for decisions impacting lives and property in New England. Scientists can also use this information to fine-tune future storm surge and coastal change forecasts, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
Information from the sensors can also be used to guide recovery efforts, plan evacuation routes, identify areas most affected by the storm and flooding, inform building code decisions and improve structure designs to promote public safety, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.