Suffolk issues advisory against bathing at 47 beaches

Following heavy rainfall over the weekend and with thunderstorms and heavy rain in the forecast for Monday as well, the Suffolk County Department of Health Services has issued an advisory against bathing at 47 beaches until at least Tuesday, officials said.

The beaches are located in areas heavily influenced by stormwater runoff and their location in an enclosed embayment makes them vulnerable due to "limited tidal flushing," officials said.

Officials have recommended all water contact be suspended until the areas have been flushed by two successive tidal cycles, covering at least one 24-hour period, unless samples from those areas reveal continuing elevated bacterial levels. Elevated levels would lead to continued bans.

The beaches affected by the advisory include:

• Sound Beach: Sound Beach POA East, Sound Beach POA West, Tides Beach, Scotts Beach;
• Rocky Point: Beech Road Beach, Broadway Beach, Friendship Drive Beach, Terraces on the Sound;
• Shoreham: Shoreham Village Beach; East Shoreham: Shoreham Beach, Shoreham Shore Club Beach;
• Stony Brook: Stony Brook Beach;
• Miller Place: Miller Place Park Beach, Woodhull Landing POA Beach;
• Setauket-East Setauket: Bayberry Cove Beach, Bayview Beach, Grantland Beach, Indian Field Beach, Little Bay Beach;
• Old Field: Soundview Beach Association Beach;
• Cold Spring Harbor: Eagle Dock Community Beach;
• Lloyd Harbor: Cold Spring Harbor Beach Club Beach, West Neck Beach, Lloyd Neck Bath Club Beach, Lloyd Harbor Village Park Beach;
• Huntington: Gold Star Battalion Park Beach; Huntington Bay, Knollwood Beach Association Beach, Fleets Cove Beach;
• Huntington Bay: Head of the Bay Club Beach, Nathan Hale Beach Club Beach, Baycrest Association Beach, Bay Hills Beach Association, Crescent Beach, Wincoma Association Beach;
• Centerport: Centerport Beach, Huntington Beach Community Association Beach, Centerport Yacht Club Beach;
• Northport: Steers Beach, Hobart Beach, Crab Meadow Beach;
• Asharoken: Asharoken Beach;
• Eatons Neck: Valley Grove Beach, Prices Bend Beach;
• Nissequogue: Short Beach, Nissequoge Point Beach, Long Beach, and Schubert Beach.

Bayport Beach, which was closed Friday, as well as four other beaches that closed Saturday, remain closed Monday due to excess bacteria, officials said. The four beaches closed Saturday include: Amityville Village Beach, Tanner Park Beach in Copiague, Benjamin Beach in Bay Shore, and Ronkonkoma Beach in the Town of Islip.

Those beaches will reopen when bacteria subsides, officials said.

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”