A powerful nor’easter struck Long Island this weekend, bringing heavy rain, flooding, downed trees, power outages and beach erosion across Nassau County.
The storm also disrupted weekend activities in Malverne and West Hempstead. Malverne's villagewide garage sale was postponed because of the weather and rescheduled for Oct. 10. West Hempstead's homecoming festivities were also postponed.
The storm struck Long Island on Friday and continued through Sunday, with coastal flooding, downed trees, beach erosion and suspended train service among its effects. Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency for Long Island on Friday.
"It is not over," Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said on Sunday. "While the wnd is dying down and the rain will just be a trickle compared to what we've had the last couple of days. The ground is saturated withn water. That means roots are loosened. It doesn' take much for a tree, especially one full of leaves, to fall over."
Blakeman said Saturday that Nassau County had received about 3 inches of rain, with roughly 5 inches expected overall. By Sunday, he said he believed the county would be close to normal by Monday morning.
As of noon Sunday, power had been restored to more than 93,700 PSEG Long Island customers across Long Island and the Rockaways, utility officials said. As of press time, 18,501 customers remained without power.
Long Island Rail Road service on the Long Beach Branch remained suspended because of flooding near Island Park. Shuttle buses were operating between Valley Stream and Long Beach.
Hempstead Town Supervisor John Ferretti said Saturday that 41 trees had fallen in the town and 35 had been cleared.
"We had flooding on the South Shore mainly south of Merrick Road," Ferretti said, adding that, "the water hasn't receded as much we thought it would."
The National Weather Service warned of dangerous surf and life-threatening rip currents. Officials advised residents to stay out of the water, avoid flooded roads and move vehicles to higher ground in vulnerable areas.
Residents can text 333-111 for real-time Nassau County updates.
