Long Island braces for Earl's arrival

As Long Islanders readied for Hurricane Earl, officials said some railroad service would halt, beaches would close and ferries would stop running Friday to head off potential trouble at the start of the Labor Day holiday weekend.

After hitting North Carolina, Hurricane Earl is expected to move up the East Coast Friday and start producing rain and high winds on Long Island by midafternoon, with the worst weather peaking between 8 and 10 p.m., the National Weather Service said.

"It's not going to be a great Friday night," quipped Lauren Nash, a meteorologist at the weather service's Upton bureau.

Earl had weakened somewhat by Thursday afternoon and was predicted to continue to lessen in intensity. At 11 p.m., it remained a Category 2 hurricane and was 115 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, N.C.

Thursday afternoon, National Hurricane Center meteorologist Dennis Feltgen called Earl "the strongest hurricane to threaten the Northeast and New England since Hurricane Bob in 1991."

Storm warning for Suffolk

A tropical storm warning was in effect for Suffolk County, while Nassau was under a tropical storm watch. Weather experts said they expected the worst conditions at Montauk, with sustained winds of 45 mph, gusting to 55 mph. Some areas of Long Island could get anywhere from 2 to 4 inches of rain, forecasters said.

The storm could continue to lash the East End until 3 or 4 a.m. Saturday. The potential for beach erosion, high surf, coastal flooding and some wind damage are the big concerns, forecasters said.

Still, officials decided no evacuation orders were necessary as of Thursday, including on fragile Fire Island, and emergency shelters were put on standby. Officials in Suffolk did order all county beaches and ocean-based campsites to close Thursday and not reopen until Saturday morning, when Earl is predicted to have passed the Island.

East End braces for storm

On the East End, waterfront communities braced for the storm. In Sag Harbor, more than 30 percent of the boats that normally would be moored at the village marina had either left port for points west or for deeper waters, said Taegan Clarke, a worker at the Breakwater Yacht Club.

"All these slips should be filled," he said, pointing to the village marina where boats that remained had been secured. "Most of the mega-yachts, the really big ones, are gone."

Suffolk Executive Steve Levy said no Long Island Rail Road trains from Montauk and the North Fork will travel west after about 5:30 a.m. Friday morning, until Saturday. Bay Shore-based Fire Island Ferries will not run Fire Island-bound vessels after 3 p.m. Friday, Levy said. The ferry between Orient Point and New London, Conn., canceled runs by two small boats Friday and Saturday, but trips by their larger vessels were still set to go.

New York State Parks prohibited swimming at Montauk's Hither Hills State Park Thursday because of rough surf and rip currents, and by noon did the same at Robert Moses State Park, parks department spokesman George Gorman said. He said officials will determine Friday if they need to take the same steps, and whether camping at Hither Hills will be permitted.

The Long Island Power Authority, anticipating a possible 100,000 or more outages in the wake of Earl, brought in hundreds of line crews and tree trimmers from out of state to back up local crews. By late afternoon Thursday, utility trucks from as far away as Michigan were gathering at a staging area in Roslyn, LIPA chief executive Kevin Law said.

"We are prepared for what is forecasted," Law said at a news conference at the Christopher Morley Park staging area. "We will be able to hit the ground running."

In Nassau, officials canceled an outdoor Tony Orlando concert scheduled for tonightFriday night in Eisenhower Park.

Earl began to spread farther Thursday from the eye as the center of the storm underwent a change, the National Hurricane Center said. Powerful tropical storm conditions were expected on the East End, and a hurricane warning was issued for the tip of Massachusetts, including Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard.

The center's director, Bill Read, said hurricane winds were spread 90 miles from the eye and widening. Long Island and points north will face "a similar scenario that North Carolina is facing today," Read said Thursday. "And it will be bigger. The storm won't be as strong but they spread out as they go north and the rain will be spreading from New England."

That will mean strong, gusty winds much like a nor'easter, and because leaves are still on the trees, there could be fallen trees or limbs and downed power lines.

In Southold Town, the main concern was the causeway between East Marian and Orient, which typically floods in heavy storms, said Lt. Bill Sawicki of the Southold Town police. High tide, expected at 4 p.m. Friday, probably won't help matters, Sawicki said. A breach in the narrow stretch of road could render Orient an island.

Town orders evacuations

In a message from Southampton Town on its website, Police Lt. Robert P. Iberger said the town wasn't immediately ordering evacuations, but noted the storm's size and said, "Even if Hurricane Earl is well over a hundred miles east of Montauk, we will likely experience strong winds, rain and heavy surf activity."

One person who planned to ride out the storm was Michael Girardo, who sailed his 30-foot boat from Mount Sinai to Three Mile Harbor on the north shore of the South Fork. Girardo said he has a 33-pound anchor and a 100-foot chain to keep his boat in place, but he's got a Plan B as well.

"If all hell breaks loose, I may have to do a little sailing," said Girardo, whose Nonsuch sailboat is equipped with an electric motor fed by solar- and wind-powered batteries. "I'm holding pretty good."