Tropical Storm Henri Careens Toward New York with Hurricane-Strength Winds

The Tropical Storm dubbed Henri is moving toward New York with hurricane-strength winds and possible storm surges.

The weather has closed local beaches and caused officials to issue severe weather warnings for Eastern Long Island, the New York Post reported Friday:

Henri is expected to hit the Hamptons as a category one hurricane around 7 a.m. Sunday, packing winds up to 75 mph and heavy rains through much of the region, according to Accuweather. Four to eight inches of rain were expected to drench eastern Long Island, Accuweather senior meteorologist Kerry Schwindenhammer told The Post Friday night.

Officials in the Northeast told residents to remain indoors and be ready for flooding and possible power outages.

“This has the potential on Long Island and southeast New England to produce power outages that could last for days, maybe even over a week,” Schwindenhammer noted, “because you’re going to be talking about wet soil, wet ground, saturated ground and you’re producing strong hurricane force wind gusts on top of that, so trees could come down on top of power lines.”

NBC News shared live tracking coverage of Henri:

In a press release Friday, the New York City Emergency Management Department urged residents to prepare for the possible impacts of the storm, such as heavy rainfall and damaging winds.

“The National Weather Service has issued a Tropical Storm Watch for the New York City area until further notice. A Tropical Storm Watch is issued 48 hours in advance of the possible onset of tropical-storm-force winds, which include sustained wind speeds of 39 mph to 74 mph,” the agency continued:

A Storm Surge Watch also is in effect for parts of New York City including the Bronx and northern Queens until further notice. The combination of strong winds, dangerous storm surge and the tide may cause normally dry areas to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline within the next 48 hours. New York City beaches will be closed for swimming on Sunday and Monday.