Hermine Expected To Weaken As Waves, Coastal Flooding & Wind Still Pose Threat
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Hermine is expected to begin weakening as it churns hundreds of miles offshore in the Atlantic Ocean, but forecasters warn it could continue to impact areas from New York to southern New England with pounding waves, coastal flooding and beach erosion before it moves out to sea.
A tropical storm warning remained in effect Tuesday for Suffolk County on Long Island and southeastern Connecticut.
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The National Hurricane Center said Hermine was expected to become nearly stationary by Tuesday night before turning toward the northeast Wednesday.
As of 5 a.m. Tuesday, Hermine's top sustained winds were steady at 65 mph as it moved west at 8 mph. The storm was centered about 140 miles southwest of Nantucket, Massachusetts.
Overnight in Bay Shore, winds knocked down trees on Candlewood Road and Rustic Road. The gusts also brought signs down in Selden and in Sayville, CBS2's Raegan Medgie reported.
Water was also covering River Road, but residents said they've been through worse.
"It was really nothing, we get higher tides than this during regular, little unnamed storms," Sayville resident Ray Bortzfield said.
The wind caused major disruptions at the Cherry Grove Terminal for the Sayville Ferry Service to Fire Island. It shut down Monday and resumed Tuesday.
"I'm like lucky I don't' have puke on me," ferry rider Mitchell Weaver said. "It was a little choppy, I'm also a little tired."
Some scattered power outages have also been reported in Suffolk County, mostly in Brookhaven.
Chunks of beach at Robert Moses State Park have been eaten away by Hermine as red flags line the beach, warning people of dangerous swells, some, eight feet high.
In the Rockaways, signs and red flags warn people of the dangerous rip currents and to stay out of the water.
"I just think it's better to be safe than sorry in this day and age because some people go in and we have some incidents where people can't make it out of the water," said Breezy Point resident Gerald Sullivan.
But some surfers ignored those warnings.
"This is like a perfect storm for the surf and normally we don't get waves this quality and that's why we're out here," Rockaway resident John Gutierrez said.
While many communities felt like they dodged a bullet, the threat of Hermine caused many vacationers to cancel their holiday plans.
But some shop owners in Greenport Village said the storm helped business because it kept people in town and away from the beach.
"We were certainly concerned that we would have some dropoff because of the storm and we didn't see that at all," Jim Redasti, owner of Aldo's Eatery, said. "The carousel was going and people were on the street and it didn't hurt us at all."
New York officials extended beach closures beyond Labor Day because of continued deadly rip currents, but some ignored the warnings.
In New Jersey, big waves and churning surf up to the base of dunes were reported in some areas of the state hit hard by Superstorm Sandy in October 2012, including the Ocean County communities of Point Pleasant Beach, Bay Head, Mantoloking and Brick. But no flooding or other damage was reported.
In Manasquan, beaches were closed.
"At least for next 24 hours...if you're in a low lying area move your car to higher ground east of the railroad tracks," said Manasquan Council President Owen McCarthy.
Hermine rose over the Gulf of Mexico and hit Florida on Friday as a Category 1 hurricane before weakening to a tropical storm across Georgia.
It has caused at least three deaths, inflicted widespread property damage and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people from Florida to Virginia.
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