Long Island Officials Urging Residents To Prepare For Flash Floods From Tropical Storm Fay
LONG ISLAND, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) - People on Long Island are being warned about the potential for flash flooding as Tropical Storm Fay brings heavy rain and wind up the coast.
Freeport Mayor Robert Kennedy sent a robocall Monday morning, urging residents to take precautions, CBS2's Natalie Duddridge reported.
The call warned a flash flood watch is in effect on Long Island until Friday night.
Officials said to beware of dangerous surf conditions:
- A high surf advisory runs until 9 p.m. on Saturday.
- A high rip current warning runs until Saturday night, also.
By high tide, around 1:20 p.m., Freeport residents were already seeing water creep up their sidewalks on Ocean Street.
Eric Sanders kept checking out his front door to keep tabs on potential flooding, notorious in his neighborhood.
"Another hour or two after high tide, that's the key," he said. "For example, if it were halfway up already, oh, we're in bad shape, but right now, this is fine."
"Fine" for his neighborhood means the street looks like a lake. Water was up past ankles and rims of cars.
"It hasn't been like this for a while," one driver said. "You gotta get used to it, especially when it's Mother Nature."
Officials said people should expect winds of up to 45 mph.
Kennedy said he's urging people to secure outdoor furniture and anything that could blow away, and to move vehicles to higher ground.
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Ever since Superstorm Sandy, the mayor says they have been implementing ways to fend off flooding.
"Just warning the people that high tide with a nor'easter like this, it tends to blow the water back into the bay or not let the water out from the high tide this afternoon until tonight," said Kennedy. "We've put in check valves, almost every outlet of the storm sewer system in the Village of Freeport. That should prevent the water from coming back in and flooding the streets. However, if the water goes over the bulkheads, all bets are off."
It's not expected that will happen, but just in case, the office of emergency management is ready to go, says Nassau County Executive Laura Curran.
"We know that we're going to have a more-than-active storm season, we've been told, so we're ready for that," she said. "We're just asking our residents to be careful. You know, we're on an island. We're vulnerable to the ravages of Mother Nature, so there could be flooding, there could be outages, so just to be very careful when you're out and about."
The storm is also causing problems for restaurants along Nautical Mile. They've been relying on outdoor dining and are now being rained out on what should have been a busy Friday night.
The next high tide will happen at 12:42 a.m. Saturday. Officials hope the worst of the storm will have passed through by then.
Stick with CBSNewYork.com's Weather Center for the latest forecast and updated alerts.
