Heavy downpours swamp LI roads, basements

Heavy downpours swamped Long Island Sunday, closing roads, flooding basements and causing disruptions for Long Island Rail Road passengers -- with more of the same possible Monday.

A National Weather Service flash flood watch was in effect until Monday night for Nassau and western Suffolk. The weather service said Sunday night that between 1 and 1.5 inches of additional rain was expected through Monday evening.

That's far less than the deluge Long Island saw Sunday -- some spots in Nassau had rainfall totals in excess of 10 inches -- but forecasters cautioned that downpours heavier than predicted are possible.

"We have a low-pressure system forming south of the area," weather service meteorologist Lauren Nash said. "And if that tracks differently than the models predict, it could bring more rain to the area."

Sunday evening, Long Island Rail Road lines from Valley Stream to Far Rockaway and Long Beach were under water and buses were being used to carry passengers along those stretches. Delays plagued other parts of the system throughout the day.

LIRR spokeswoman Marjorie Anders said Sunday night that "Monday morning's commute may be affected by continuing rain" and she urged riders to check the agency's website, mta.info, for the latest service updates.

As of Monday  morning, all LIRR lines were reporting good service on the website.

The rising waters had Kathy Cardone of Ronkonkoma worried that her home's foundation was in jeopardy. The flooding crept up from the road and lapped at the side of her house as nearby storm drains were overwhelmed. "There's nothing we can do," Cardone said. "There's nowhere for the water to go."

Bishop Russell James Davenport of One Offering Tabernacle of God in Hempstead said the entire church property was flooded and the building destroyed. "We're going to have to move on," Davenport said. "We don't know where yet, but we're going to do it."

In Bellmore, the Nassau Department of Public Works was out pumping the flooded basements of several homes.

Some looking to get the job done themselves were out of luck. As of 2:30 p.m., all of the utility pumps at Costello's Ace Hardware store in Farmingdale were sold out and owner Tim Costello, 40, said he was turning customers away.

In Rocky Point, the rains caused heavy erosion to North Shore Beach, said Michael Armando, vice president of the North Shore Beach Property Owners Association. An entrance to the beach off Hallock Landing Road also was destroyed, he said.

"When we get these heavy rains, it flows down Hallock Road into Long Island Sound," Armando said. "It's washed out our entrance part to the beach."

Runoff from the rains may lead to shellfishing closures in coming weeks, William Hastback of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's Bureau of Marine Resources said. The department will test for contamination in the next few days. "When it gets to be more than 3 inches of rain, we know that water quality declines in near-shore areas, which are normally open for shellfish harvesting," Hastback said.

LaGuardia, Kennedy and MacArthur airports all reported service disruptions or delays from the weather. Kennedy saw record rainfall, with 7.72 inches shortly before 8 p.m., beating the previous record of 6.27 on June 30, 1984, according to the National Weather Service.

Major highways in Nassau were closed in both directions for much of Sunday, including the Meadowbrook Parkway from Babylon Turnpike to the Southern State Parkway and the Wantagh Parkway from Bay Drive to the traffic circle, state police said. By evening both had reopened.

The westbound exit ramp to Merrick Road on the Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway remained closed Sunday night, Nassau police said.

In Suffolk, where the rainfall was generally less severe, isolated flooding closed some roads or led to lane closures. Route 110 in Huntington was among the routes most seriously impacted.

Most roads had cleared by evening, Suffolk police said.