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11 p.m. Update: Hurricane Warning for Long Island

Several Long Island communities under evacuation orders as mass transit begins to shut down at noon Saturday.

Brace for a stormy weekend. The National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane warning for Long Island and the Long Island Sound Friday.

As of 11 p.m. Hurricane Irene, a Category 2 storm packing winds up to 100 mph, is 140 miles south of Cape Lookout, N.C. The core of the storm is expected to reach the North Carolina coast overnight.

The hurricane warning extends from Little River Inlet, N.C. to Sagamore Beach, Mass. Long Island should start to see outer bands from the storm late Saturday.

The National Weather Service has also issued a coastal flood hazard with comunities along the Long Island Sound in a high impact zone. Most of Nassau and Queens are listed as high to extreme inland flood hazards.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency on Thursday. It started a cascade of emergency measures, including:

  • The MTA announced the Long Island Rail Road will suspend fare collection, effective immediately on all westbound trains on the Far Rockaway, Long Beach and Montauk/Babylon Branches to facilitate evacuation. Conductors will view tickets for monthly/weekly ticket holders, but will not collect a fare for those under the evacuation orders. Also, pets will be allowed to accompany evacuees on trains when leashed or in a container.
  • The MTA has also said it will  for buses, subways and trains beginning at noon Saturday.
  • Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano announced a  for all residents living south of Sunrise Highway, from the Queens line to Rockville Centre and south of Merrick Road, from Rockville Centre to the Nassau-Suffolk border. All those residing in these areas must evacuate by 5 p.m. Saturday.
  •  Supervisor Jon Kaiman said low-lying areas and storm surge zones , including parts of Manorhaven, Manhasset Isle, and residents that live along shore road along Manhasset Bay.
  • Brookhaven Town Supervisor Mark Lesko announced a  effective 8 a.m. Saturday for those who reside in the town's South Shore flood zones, from Center Moriches to Patchogue.
  •  of low-lying areas south of Montauk Highway will begin at 8 a.m. Saturday. 
  •  began 3 p.m. Friday.
  •  Mayor Patricia Irving has urged residents to . 

The 48 hour outlook places the storm track squarely through Long Island, with much of the East Coast in the forecast cone. At the current estimate, Irene could make landfall on Long Island at some point Sunday.

According to NOAA models, Long Island faces up to an 70-percent probability of seeing tropical storm-force winds up to 74 mph. The model also shows the Island has a 20-percent chance of facing hurricane force winds.  

Gary Weiner August 26, 2011 at 01:32 pm
Unfortunately, Suffolk County took down their storm surge risk map, most likely due to server load. I checked it out last night and my house is in the Category 3 area, which hopefully means that I'll be OK.
Liliana Nealon August 26, 2011 at 02:09 pm
could we be a bit more specific when we say "long island", please? i mean, it's named "long" for a reason. Checking the weather underground, it looks like it will hit closer to the NYC border, and of course we will be severely affected, but not as much as Nassau county and NYC? Would love a word from the experts... thanks
Liliana Nealon August 26, 2011 at 02:10 pm
BTW check Wunderground.com their reporting is so objective, clear, cohesive, no hype...
Pat August 26, 2011 at 03:13 pm
Gary, where are you located? The suffolk map is still down..I am off Elwood in East Northport. Where is Cat 3 located? Thanks, and good luck!
Gary August 26, 2011 at 04:05 pm
I have the pdf of the map you are talking about. I just tried to upload it to this article, but I don't know where you can see it.
Jackie Connelly-Fornuff August 26, 2011 at 04:43 pm
The higher the category, the stronger the hurricane will be. As of right now, we may have 85 mph winds by the time Irene hits Long Island. Saying hurricane Irene weakens is not entirely accurate. It only weakened a little bit. No matter what, being prepared is what we need to do. We still could be without power for a few days. So, get another container of gas for your grills just in case. Most stores are out of bottled water now too.
Steve Weinberg August 26, 2011 at 08:05 pm
LI storm surge map
http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/mandias/38hurricane/storm_surge_maps.html
Mary Beth August 26, 2011 at 08:26 pm
Anyone know where to purchase sandbags?
Lisa Likewise Miano August 26, 2011 at 09:09 pm
if anyone is in the Medford area, I heard meat farms on 112 has plenty!
Judy Mottl (Editor) August 26, 2011 at 09:47 pm
Hi Mary Beth,
I have to ask. Why would you need sandbags? Are you on the bay front in Islip or Babylon?
Mary Beth August 26, 2011 at 09:58 pm
Judy, we have a basement door that leads to an outdoor stairwell. There is a drain there, but if we get a lot of rain the stairwell fills with water and flows under the door and floods the basement. They say there is going to be a lot of rain so I could end up with a pretty big flood down there and someone said I should stack some sandbags inside the door which sounds like a pretty good idea.
Judy Mottl (Editor) August 26, 2011 at 10:00 pm
That sounds like a great idea. When I lived on bay front we had the water come up from inside the basement.. freaky and unexpected.. lost all our heating and electrical systems as they were based in the crawl space.. opening that outside basement door and seeing water above the top step is a sight I'll never forget. Post something on Huntington Patch in the comments section about what you need. Maybe there's a local contractor that can help out. Everyone seems to be willing to help each other which is the only good thing I can say about this impending storm :)
Jennifer Compton Breuer August 26, 2011 at 10:08 pm
@ Liliana: I'm not an expert but from what I have seen on TV; the east side of the storm is where the strongest winds are. So if it makes landfall in Queens/Nassau Suffolk would be hit with the strongest winds...
Paul Squire August 26, 2011 at 10:24 pm
@Jennifer: that is correct. Since the storm is moving at about 20 mph at the moment, the eastern side of the storm will have winds that are 20 mph faster.
Think of it like a baseball pitcher throwing a 100 mph fastball at you. If you're in the east side of the storm, the winds are moving towards you, so it'd be like that same pitcher throwing a 100 mph fastball while standing on a car driving 20 mph at you. The ball would really be moving 120 mph. The opposite is true of the west side of the storm. For more info on Irene's possible effects, see our story here. http://riverhead.patch.com/articles/expert-irene-not-like-1938-disaster
Eileen Tynan Stark August 26, 2011 at 11:48 pm
Guys the LI storm surge and the National Weather Service maps are up. We are the same on all of them- the last street to be evacuated in a category 4 in Patchogue east of the village. good luck everyone
Laurie August 27, 2011 at 12:57 am
I just bought two sandbags (they were sand in a paper-like bag at Home Depot) and I put them inside large trashbags to waterproof them, put them at the base of my basement door that leads outside. It may assist in keeping any water runoff that usually come down there from getting in. We have a drain next to it, but that may fill up. The bags are sand and can be found in the building materials section near the cement.
Laurie August 27, 2011 at 12:58 am
Yes, Mary Beth & Judy, I have the same situation, a basement door at the bottom of stair that has a drywell, but that could fill up. The sandbags will help to deter the water from the base of the door. That's what we're doing.
Rich Garton August 27, 2011 at 02:19 am
good luck long islanders left Smithtown 5 years ago
Bonny Chrystal August 27, 2011 at 03:46 am
Thank you all for the info,
Good Luck EVERYONE!
Kady August 27, 2011 at 05:16 am
Mary Beth and Laurie, I'm not sure what your basement door configuration is, but here in Florida, we put sandbags outside the structure. This creates a dam that keeps the water from getting under the door. The bags should extend beyond the width of the door, be multi-layered, both in thickness and width and be up against the structure for maximum damming.
Irene skirted past us this morning. I'm watching her closely, because I still have family and friends up there. GOOD LUCK TO ALL OF YOU! YOU ARE IN MY PRAYERS!
JET August 27, 2011 at 06:49 am
Thanks Liliana, I am going to check it out right now.
Tracy Jo Tenner August 27, 2011 at 10:11 am
Am out of area this time (TG!), but live in Hurricane Alley, So FL. I'm inquiring for an elderly friend in E.Patchogue as to where the nearest shelter(s) might be. Thanks in advance and good luck all.
David D'Agostino August 27, 2011 at 02:45 pm
Buy sandbags here for $3 a bag Southampton Masonry
Phone: 631-259-8200 1540 County Road 39
Greg Martinez August 27, 2011 at 03:51 pm
I am not a meteorologist or atmospheric scientist of any kind, however, I have an observation and a question. I do not seem to see an eye to this "hurricane" in the latest pictures. If I am right, and there is no eye, why is this not classified now as a tropical storm?
Tariq Khan August 27, 2011 at 05:20 pm
According to underground, Irene lost the eye last night and the pressure is stable. It would have been slowing down much faster had it not been such a large one. I believe the classification is based on wind speeds and not neccesarily the existence (or not) of an eye. Again, according to the same blog post, it might likely be classified to be a tropical storm by the time it hits LI, but still with sustained winds of up to 70mph. However, since the storm is so big, the storm surge could be 5 on a 1 to 6 scale, which is typically associated with category 2 or 3 hurricanes. So still a high possibility of damage, both from flying debris and flooding.
Ray Medico August 28, 2011 at 01:11 pm
We have home on Devon road, Amagansett. Does anyone know if there are power outages in that neighborhood?

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