Rain helps snarl morning commute

Heavy rains, including isolated bands of thunderstorms and gusting winds, are making for a messy, sometimes treacherous commute Thursday morning.

The National Weather Service is warning those headed into New York City of potential flooding of low-lying areas, puddles on major roads that could make driving hazardous, and a coastal flood warning has been issued for Nassau and Suffolk in effect until 9 p.m., with high, roiling surf and dangerous rip currents expected on Atlantic beaches.

The Long Island Rail Road said a weather-related power problem in Mineola is causing delays of up to 30 minutes between Hicksville and Mineola and also causing service disruptions on the Ronkonkoma and Port Jefferson branches.

The Long Island Power Authority was reporting about 1,100 people without power around 7:30 a.m.

The weather service said we can expect rain Friday, Saturday and possibly Sunday.

Less than a week after Tropical Storm Irene deluged the area with flooding rains and damaging winds that forced the suspension of all metropolitan-area public transportation and caused more than 500,000 power outages on Long Island, the weather service said this latest storm system had dropped more than two inches of rain on some areas of the Island by late Wednesday night -- though no updated totals were immediately available Thursday.

As of 9:45 p.m. Wednesday, Centerport had received 2.24 inches of rain in the previous 36 hours, while Centereach had 2.11, Upton, 2, and Bellmore 1.85. Central Park had received 3.45, LaGuardia 2.61.

The morning rush-hour drive was being slowed dramatically Thursday with areas of the Long Island Expressway, Northern State Parkway and Southern State Parkway flooded -- especially near the Nassau-Queens border.

Visibility also was hampered in some areas by spray off of other vehicles, and the weather service urged drivers to use caution and to also avoid driving into areas of standing water, because it is impossible to know the depth of the water.