Hurricane Henri bears down on US east coast

NEW YORK: Hurricane Henri was on course to make landfall on the US east coast on Sunday, with millions in New England and New York’s Long Island preparing for flash flooding, violent winds and power outages.

A swath of the northeastern coastline, including New York City, was under alert late Saturday as storm Henri was upgraded to what could be the first hurricane to hit New England in 30 years.

The US National Hurricane Centre said in its 5 am (1700 GMT) advisory that Henri was approaching eastern Long Island and southern New England, and 80 miles (128 kilometers) southeast of Montauk Point in New York state.

Forecasters warned of heavy rainfall and the risk of surging seas as the storm churned in the Atlantic, packing maximum sustained winds near 75 miles (120 kilometers) per hour.

Nasty weather that preceded Henri forced New York City to halt a star-studded Central Park concert billed as a “homecoming” for a metropolis hard hit by the pandemic.

The approaching hurricane had prompted New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to announce a state of emergency and the deployment of 500 National Guard soldiers in anticipation of response efforts.

“It’s as serious as a heart attack,” he warned. “It will be about a 26-hour event,” Cuomo added, telling New Yorkers to expect “significant power outages” and “significant flooding” in some suburbs of the Big Apple.

The NHC warned of “a dangerous storm surge, hurricane conditions and flooding” in areas of southern New England and Long Island.

The National Weather Service said late Saturday Henri was expected to remain a Category 1 hurricane at landfall.

Henri was expected to produce three to six inches of rain (7.5 to 15 centimeters) across the region, with isolated maximum totals near 10 inches, the NHC warned. The heavy rainfall “may result in considerable flash, urban, and small stream flooding” as well as river flooding, it added.