Storm Pummels Long Island, Flooding Roads And Eroding Beaches

LONG ISLAND, NY — Mother Nature pummeled Long Island Tuesday with heavy rain, wind, and coastal flooding and the area was still struggling to dry out Wednesday, with many roads still flooded and beaches closed.

According to Nelson Vaz, meteorologist with the National Weather Service office at Upton, areas across Long Island with poor drainage were impacted, with coastal flooding an issue on the shorelines of ocean beaches. Beachfront areas were "hard hit," he said, with high wave action and water levels, impacts to dunes, and overwash, he said. "We're still getting a sense of how hard hit the dunes were," he said.

Vaz added that the South Shore of Long Island, from the southern parts of Nassau, heading east to Mastic and areas along the Great South Bay, exceeded the major flood threshold. Those areas saw between 2 to 2.5 feet of water above ground, with 3 feet reported locally in some areas.

"Fire Island is devastated," said Brookhaven Town Supervisor Dan Panico. "Preliminary reports have Fire Island Pine as the most affected community. Places where there were significant dunes are now totally gone. The water is now literally up to the homes."

Overall, Long Island saw about 2.5 to 3.5 inches of rain, he said. Wednesday's high tide is slowly receding but there are still elevated flooding areas, he said.

Beachfront areas on the East End were hard hit with major road flooding and beach erosion.

"Thankfully, there was no loss of life," Vaz said.

Temperatures Wednesday are expected to remain in the lower 50s and drop into the upper 40s. Long Island will dry out over the rest of the week, but Friday night into Saturday morning, another 1 to 2 inches of rain are expected, with moderate to major coastal flooding and wind gusts as another storm moves through, he said.