Coastal flood warning Saturday for LI's South Shore after overnight storm

Long Island's South Shore is under a coastal flood warning for most of Saturday as a quick-moving but potentially destructive overnight rain- and windstorm is forecast to race through the region, pummeling the already battered shoreline.

The storm, which will bring up to 2 inches of rain and strong southeast winds, is forecast to trigger widespread moderate flooding Saturday morning in waterfront communities, along with coastline destruction and power outages.

The South Shore is particularly vulnerable due to a series of storms that have buffeted the coastline, including one that came through earlier this week that left excessive flooding, erosion and two new breaches on Fire Island.

Bill Korbel, a Newsday meteorologist, said that the expected rain “might be a little bit less” than Tuesday night's storm, which brought up to 3 inches to some places, but basically Long Island will “see the same thing.” 

Korbel said while rain will be heavy at times overnight, “It's moving pretty fast so the rain will be over before sunrise.”

High tide on the South Shore — when up to 3 feet of coastline inundation and 12- to 17-foot waves are expected to be the highest — will be between 8 a.m. and noon Saturday, and the same areas flooded earlier this week will most likely experience a repeat of events, the National Weather Service said. 

“I’m very concerned about the entire shoreline, from Blue Point to Eastport,” said Brookhaven Highway Superintendent Dan Losquadro. “Our public safety and fire marshals haven’t had a chance to do a full damage assessment yet, and we know it’s only going to get worse. There is going to be very significant wave action and wind. Anyone along the bayside and on the South Shore is going to face coastal inundation again.”

The repeated storms have left town crews throughout Long Island scrambling. 

“We really want people to be aware that the problem of coastal inundation is not one we can solve,” Losquadro said. “There is no pump that can pump the bay, Long Island Sound or the Atlantic Ocean. When this water comes up, like everyone else we have to wait for it to recede.”

East Hampton Deputy Supervisor Cate Rogers on Friday said the town’s highway department was placing sand in two areas of Montauk that sustained the worst water intrusion from the most recent storm. Crews were depositing sand at the ocean-fronting intersection of South Edison Street and South Emerson Avenue as well as Otis Road near Ditch Plains Beach.

“We’d like to give additional protection of those two areas, particularly since the beaches and fortifications were already weakened by the last storm,” she said.

State personnel from the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services were on Long Island Friday assessing damage from that storm, after Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine asked for help in getting federal disaster aid.

The state has also been in talks with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers after Gov. Kathy Hochul asked for an expedited review of emergency rehabilitation of sections of the coastline where the damage has been severe.

“We're engaging the Army Corps of Engineers to say yes, the resiliency plan you put in place for the coastline, the Fire Island area and other places that were so hard hit this time, you put it in place 10 years ago with Superstorm Sandy,” Hochul said Friday. “But over time, especially our Sept. 29 storm of this year, really eroded and compromised the ability to hold back the ocean, hold back the water. So, we're asking for them to go at it again with intensity.”

Along with the coastal flood warning, the National Weather Service issued a wind advisory, in effect from 10 p.m. Friday until 6 a.m. Saturday, predicting sustained winds of between 25 and 35 mph and gusts of up to 55 mph. PSEG Long Island said in a statement on its website that the utility has 160 extra workers from off Long Island ready to help as needed. The last storm resulted in more than 26,000 outages on Long Island.

Nassau's NICE bus system also warned riders of potential delays due to the storm.

George Gorman, state parks regional director for Long Island, said Gilgo Beach is the greatest concern, and crews added a wall of sand to close off the beach and make sure the flooding does not reach Ocean Parkway. 

Crews used heavy equipment to build a sea wall of sand on Jones Beach, in addition to sandbags around buildings there. Sand has also been added to protect Orient Beach State Park, which had minor erosion from recent storms. 

Another round of storms is predicted Tuesday but this time, Korbel said, there is a “threat of snow.” Korbel said computer models were giving inconsistent reports so far. The picture should be clearer Sunday, he said.