Henri continues to dump rain in Malverne, West Hempstead

Updated: 8:15 a.m., Aug. 23: A Flash Flood Watch remained in effect for Nassau County as the remnants of Tropical Storm Henri boomeranged back to Long Island after moving off to the west overnight. The National Weather Service was predicting pockets of heavy rain throughout the day Monday.

The Red Cross opened an emergency shelter at Nassau Community College for those who might need it over the weekend.  At midday Sunday,  PSEG Long Island was reporting a little more than 1,700 outages island-wide, scattered in small clusters across Nassau and Suffolk counties. By 5:30, that number was down to 548 outages and declining. The company was reporting 99.95 percent system reliability.

The NWS downgraded Henri to a tropical storm from a Category 1 hurricane when its wind speed dropped from an average of 75 to 70 mph. That happened right at 7 a.m. Sunday.

As of that hour, Henri was circulating in the Atlantic Ocean 50 miles southeast of Southampton. That put the storm significantly farther east than predicted on Saturday, when forecasters estimated the storm's track would run straight through the center of the island, in the Islip area. Henri's track, coupled with its reduction to a tropical storm, reduced its impacts for Nassau County.

The NWS warned that Henri remained a major storm that could bring on-again, off-again downpours Sunday. The storm surge was two to four feet above normal tidal levels on the South Shore and higher on the North Shore. The surf was rough and was expected to continue to be so on Monday.

“[I] have called the Office of Emergency Management into action and all emergency responders are prepared to ensure the safety of residents,” Malverne Mayor Keith Corbett said in a Facebook post on Aug. 21.

Village officials also urged residents to remove all loose objects from their property and to stay safe indoors.

Fire departments in Malverne, West Hempstead and Lakeview have remained on standby for any emergencies in their respective communities. 

Beaches are closed, and all are advised to stay out the water and off the roads.

Town of Hempstead officials began "battening down the hatches" at its South Shore marinas early Friday morning, Supervisor Don Clavin said.

"With the storm comes the danger of strengthened riptides and large waves," a town release stated.

Given the potential intensity of the storm, some power outages may last up to seven to 10 days, PSEG Long Island officials said Saturday. "We continue to monitor the track of Tropical Storm Henri," said Michael Sullivan, senior director of transmission and Distribution at PSEG Long Island. "As the storm makes its way up the coast, employees are preparing for the possibility of high winds that can cause flying debris, and bring down trees and power lines. We encourage our customers to do the same at their homes and businesses."

In response, Nassau County Executive Laura Curran, a Democrat from Baldwin, said, “Potential seven- to 10-day power outages are unacceptable. While we are all hoping for the best outcome this weekend, PSEG must call in additional crews who are prepared to respond to our residents' outages.”