Feds unveil storm-surge warning maps for LI, other coastal areas

Long Islanders will be better able to prepare for damaging storm surges during severe weather with the help of a new mapping tool created by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, according to the National Weather Service and Sen. Charles Schumer.

The online maps, which cover the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, will show areas at risk of storm surges, starting with the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season, which begins June 1.

"This will allow a new way of displaying the areas threatened, and to what extent," Chris Vaccaro, spokesman for NOAA's National Weather Service, said Wednesday. "It's definitely a more user-friendly way."

Vaccaro said the agency had been working on the mapping project for several years. "With recent congressional support, we can now bring this to the finish line," he said.

Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he requested that NOAA create the mapping tool, available at www.nhc.noaa.gov.

"Everyone was caught by surprise with Sandy, how high it was," he said. "With this mechanism, people will not be surprised."

A report issued last May by NOAA found that the weather service had difficulty communicating information quickly to state officials about predicted storm surges, which occur when strong winds push water abnormally high. During a hurricane, the surges often pose the most threat to people and property, according to NOAA.

SEE PHOTOSSandy's impact on Long Island

Vaccaro said storm surges can vary depending on several factors, including where the storm is tracking and how intense it is, but that the tool will allow "emergency managers to make sound decisions" and lead "the general public to understand how they're at risk."

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, who has said the county did not receive timely information on a storm-surge forecast during superstorm Sandy in 2012, said the warning maps "will most definitely benefit the planning activities of the county, as well as individual residents."

"Providing as much information in advance of a significant weather event will help people plan better and help to save lives," he said.