Long Island's coastal communities gear up for powerful nor'easter

Long Island's ability to withstand powerful storms will once again be tested as a strong nor'easter sweeps in from the Atlantic Ocean.

Local officials and storm experts said the Island is as ready as it will ever be after a relatively mild summer gave beaches and dunes time to recover from blizzards and nor'easters that have struck the region in recent years.

Still, the combined force of potential 55 mph wind gusts and high tides could cause substantial damage, they said.

“Wind, tide and rain, pretty much in that order,” Aram Terchunian, a coastal geologist with First Coastal Corporation in Westhampton Beach, said Friday in a phone interview. “It could be a lot worse, but because of the wind and the tide, we’re going to see a lot of beach erosion [but] we’re not going to see a lot of dune erosion except in certain spots.”

Communities in eastern Suffolk County were bracing Friday for the worst impacts from the storm.

Officials noted that the storm may coincide with high tide, which could push waves even higher.

Forecasts are calling for up to 5 inches of rain and wind gusts as high as 55 mph. The strongest gusts could blow on the North and South Forks, according to Brian Ciemnecki, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Upton.

“Those gusts are just higher out on the East End. You’re … right near the ocean, and the combination of the high and the low coming kind of close together is where you get that pressure gradient,” Ciemnecki said Friday.

Eye on vulnerable spots

In a riverfront parking lot in downtown Riverhead on Wednesday evening, an electronic highway sign was already in place to warn residents to move their cars to higher ground. Under a nearly full moon, the waters of the Peconic River were already sloshing near the top of the bulkhead.

The low-lying area along the Peconic River routinely floods during coastal storms and will be closely watched, according to Police Chief Ed Frost.

Riverhead Highway Superintendent Mike Zaleski said crews have been preparing by pumping and cleaning storm drains and readying chain saws, wood chippers and dump trucks to clean up wind-related tree damage.

“All week we’ve been preparing for the worst,” Zaleski said Friday. 

Ryan Murphy, Southampton Town's emergency management administrator, said in a text that the largest concerns are for coastal erosion and flooding, which are anticipated to be felt most along Dune Road on the west side of the Shinnecock Inlet. Southampton Town Trustees have suspended beach driving. 

East Hampton Town is monitoring areas prone to coastal flooding, including Gerard Drive and Louse Point in Springs, Lazy Point and Maidstone in Amagansett, and Navy Road in Montauk, spokesman Patrick Derenze told Newsday. 

Public safety officials will monitor roads and access points, particularly around high tides and deploy barricades if flooding makes roads unsafe, Derenze said. The town is also monitoring ocean beach access points and may place sand mounds where storm surge threatens to breach them, he said.

Brookhaven Supervisor Dan Panico said the town was checking chain saw blades, topping off fuel tanks on emergency vehicles and advising boaters with vessels at town marinas to secure them or take them out of the water. The town's call center, which is usually closed Saturdays, will be open during the storm, he said.

“We have all our machinery ready, including our grapples that are good for removing tree debris off the road," Panico said by phone Friday. “The usual [advice] to residents — do not try to remove downed power lines.”

Terence McSweeney, a Babylon Town Councilman, said he was particularly concerned about erosion-prone Overlook Beach.

He said the berms have been built up enough that he’s hopeful that even if the water does breach, it won’t make it into the tunnels beneath Ocean Parkway.

“But Mother Nature always wins that battle so if she wants to come through, she’s coming through,” McSweeney said.

Areas near the Great South Bay are another big concern. “Those houses are probably going to be affected significantly,” McSweeney said, pointing to those living south of Montauk Highway.

Amityville village expects flooding and has been clearing drains, Mayor Michael O’Neill said. His village is keeping a close watch on streets at the end of canals and Amityville Beach.

In Lindenhurst Village, residents on streets prone to flooding have been advised to move their vehicles to the LIRR parking lots and Shore Road lot, Mayor Mike Lavorata said.

LI becoming storm-resilient

Terchunian said Long Island's storm resilience has improved in recent years, following devastating weather events like Superstorm Sandy in 2012. In Sandy's wake, federal officials launched a $1.5 billion dune replenishment effort along 83 miles of coastline from Fire Island to Montauk Point. 

"The risk [of coastal erosion] is very site-specific," Terchunian said. "Overall, the resiliency is increasing as the result of better codes and beach restoration efforts, but there are still weak spots in the system. Storms will exploit those weak spots."

“We had really healthy beaches going into this fall," he said. "For the most part I think they’ll hold up pretty well.”

Another lesson from Sandy: Damage to cars. Thousands of vehicles were damaged following that storm, officials estimated.

Officials in many places advised residents Friday to park inland.

“If anybody in the low-lying areas wants to park their car up north in a municipal parking lot, the regulations have been suspended,” Freeport Mayor Robert Kennedy said.

Newsday's Denise M. Bonilla, Alek Lewis and Ted Phillips contributed to this story.