Nor'easter caused flooding and road closures in Long Beach

Storm slammed South Shore with heavy rain and high winds

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A nor'easter that roared up the East Coast Monday into Tuesday slammed Long Island's South Shore overnight, flooding low-lying streets, downing trees and causing scattered power outages.

Heavy rain combined with a higher-than-usual tide forced a foot to two feet of water onto the streets. West Park Avenue and East Pine Street were temporarily closed early on Jan. 24 after high tide around 4 a.m., but were reopened by 8 a.m., according to Gordon Tepper, the city’s director of communications.

Winds reached 30 to 40 miles per hour throughout the night, though by morning they had largely calmed. The rain, however, persisted.

The National Weather Service issued a flood watch for the South Shore through 11 a.m. Tuesday.

The storm forced the cancellation of all Long Beach School District and Recreation Department after-school activities on Jan. 23, and the Recreation Center and Ice Arena closed at 5 p.m.

The ocean reached the boardwalk in many locations and caused moderate-level beach erosion as well as minor street flooding in poor drainage areas, according to the Long Beach Fire Department.

On Facebook, the department said that high winds caused localized power outages for a few homes throughout Long Beach due to a reported transformer explosion on Jan. 23.

The highest reported wind speed from the Jones Inlet Buoy was 61 miles per hour and early estimated rain totals for the area was 1.5 to 2 inches, the department said.

Public works crews worked to ensure that storm drains were cleared when flooding warnings first surfaced, officials said.

Additionally, the department said that it was prepared to for any emergencies during the storm, and readied its high-axel water rescue vehicle.

The Canals and the West End — specifically north of Park Avenue — sustained minor flooding during times of high tide, according to the Fire Department.

Armour Street resident Mary Volosevich, president of the Northeast Bay and Canal Civic Association, said that flooding on her street receding by 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday.

“The water did not come over the bulkhead — at about 5:30 a.m., it started to come up through the storm drains,” she said. “Kerrigan [Street] I believe was bad and so was Boyd. And then it receded.”

Volosevich and many other residents are too familiar with coastal flooding, and many residents moved their vehicles to higher areas over the weekend or parked on the bridges in the Canals.

Volozevich, who is in the process of elevating her home, had more than five feet of water on her street during Hurricane Sandy. She noted the anxiety and stress that comes with even a moderate storm, and said that the nor’easter was a stark reminder of Long Beach’s vulnerability to coastal storms.

“The anxiety and stress — I spent all morning with my husband sandbagging everything downstairs, and we got the patio furniture tied down,” she said. “And then we had to go downstairs, because we’re not raised yet … I had to … put everything on tables.”

Luckily, Volosevich said that her home did not flood, though the water on her street came just past her house on Tuesday. She added that a tide-flex valve — which minimizes flooding by allowing water to flow from the streets to the bay, but not in the reverse direction — on her street needs to be cleaned out.

“I’ve brought this up at several council meetings about the flex tide valves and we need to get somebody down here to clean them out,” she said. “Maybe they’re not closing properly, I don’t know. I understand that when it gets to a certain height they’re not going to open or close because the water is over them.”

Anthony Rifilato and Scott Brinton contributed to this story.