Hurricane Earl poses challenge for holiday weekend travelers

Frank Axel and his dog, Veronica, were waiting on a bench at the ferry terminal in Bay Shore Friday morning, looking forward to getting to Fair Harbor on Fire Island for the Labor Day weekend.

Hurricane Earl? No big deal.

"I'm not worried," said Axel, of New Rochelle. "The storm is far enough off the coast that it's not going to affect Fire Island."

Axel preferred to look at the big picture. "The surf will be rough. There will be rain," he said, "then it's going to be beautiful."

Weather reports indicate that if Earl's byproducts - gusting wind and heavy rain - do indeed make travel difficult for weekend travelers heading to Fire Island or the East End, it'll be late Friday and into Saturday morning. And if the weather is bad, there's a simple solution, according to AAA New York: Delay the start of the trip or pull over and wait out the bad weather.

While Axel's plan was to beat the bad weather to Fire Island, AAA New York spokesman Robert Sinclair said those getting a late start Friday might be better off resting and relaxing at home and traveling early Saturday.

"The idea of putting off the start of your trip because of bad weather generally is a good one," Sinclair said Friday morning.

And if you are on the road when the bad weather comes, Sinclair said, it's wise to find a rest area or a restaurant or mall parking lot to wait things out.

Nationwide, about 34.4 million people are expected to travel this weekend - an increase of nearly 11 percent from last year - including 10.1 million in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, AAA New York said. Most of those will be driving - 91 percent - with 5 percent going by air and 4 percent by bus, rail or ferry.

Those heading to the East End Friday could be hampered because the Long Island Rail Road has suspended service on several eastbound trains. And folks heading out of Long Island MacArthur Airport could find delays because Southwest Airlines canceled outgoing Friday flights scheduled for after 5 p.m., spokeswoman Catherine Green said.

About a dozen flights, mostly outgoing, were canceled, Southwest spokesman Paul Flaningan said. The airline is planning to resume its normal flight schedule at about 10 a.m. Saturday morning, he said.

Citing safety concerns Thursday, the Long Island Rail Road suspended Friday service on eastbound trains from Ronkonkoma on the Main Line and from Speonk on the Montauk branch.

The suspensions are because sustained winds of 40 mph to 60 mph could break gates at grade crossings and cause trees, power lines and debris to fall onto tracks, LIRR spokesman Joe Calderone said.

The Long Island Rail Road did add eight early getaway trains eastbound from Penn Station between 2:02 p.m. and 3:48 p.m. and will continue to operate to Babylon, Great Neck, Far Rockaway, Hicksville and Huntington.

The LIRR said on its website it will "assess any storm-related damage late Friday night before deciding on when service can resume on Saturday." The LIRR's said its goal is to "resume service as soon as possible on Saturday morning" but that it might take 6 to 8 hours to reactivate gates after the storm leaves the area.

The last eastbound train to Montauk left Penn Station 12:39 a.m. Friday morning. The last train traveling westbound to Penn Station left Montauk at 5:39 a.m.

In a late afternoon update, the LIRR said the 5:09 p.m. train from Penn Station on the Montauk branch will not be canceled. This train will operate but will terminate at Speonk at 7:18 p.m.

The LIRR said commuters should monitor its website, www.mta.info/lirr, for information on restored service Saturday to Montauk and Greenport.

The metropolitan area's airports were reporting no specific destination delays, according to the Federal Aviation Administration website. Friday morning, Newark Liberty International Airport, Kennedy Airport and LaGuardia posted general arrival and departure delays of 15 minutes or less - which is normal - for all scheduled flights. At 11:30 a.m., LaGuardia did report some departure delays of up to an hour.

Later in the afternoon, because of thunderstorms, all three airports posted arrival and departure delays ranging from 14 to 45 minutes.

At MacArthur, the biggest concern is heavy winds. Only if winds exceed 50 mph would flights at MacArthur be considered in jeopardy, Green said. As of Friday morning, conditions at MacArthur were normal, she said, and United Airways had planned to continue flights as scheduled.

Some travelers, however, like Roni Miller, 39, of Woodbury, were ending their vacations early. She was getting off a Fire Island ferry Friday at Bay Shore with her children, Alexa, 8, and Zach, 4.

"We came back early because of the weather," Miller said. "We would have stayed all day otherwise."