Strong, gusty wind and rain, heavy at times, will continue to pound the region today as a strong coastal storm moves through the local area on its way to New England.
Southeast winds of 26 to 31 mph, with gusts as high as 60 mph continue this morning. A high wind warning remains in effect till noon today.
Scattered power outages have affected more than 9,000 customers across the island, according to PSEG-Long Island. Around 200 customers in Riverhead have lost power, mostly north of Sound Avenue in the western area of town. In most cases, the utility is still investigating the outages and has not yet announced an anticipated restoration time.
To the east, over 1,000 customers are without power in the Town of Southold, nearly all of them in Orient, where 966 of PSEG’s 970 customers are in the dark this morning.
Customers who have lost power should notify PSEG-Long Island by texting OUT to PSEGLI (773454).
Several trees have come down around town, blocking or partially blocking a few local roads. Police and highway crews are responding to clear lanes of travel.
Motorists should use extra caution when traveling this morning, Riverhead Police Chief David Hegermiller said in a phone inter view.
“Watch for ponding on the roads,” Hegermiller said.
A flood advisory has been issued by the weather service for Long Island due to periods of heavy rainfall that will result in minor flooding on roads and in low lying areas this morning. The advisory expires
Winds will diminish this morning, according to the National Weather Service forecast.
A coastal flood advisory remains in effect until 6 p.m., with concern for moderate flooding along the Peconic River in Riverhead during this afternoon’s high tide cycle. High tide in Riverhead is approximately 4 p.m.
Hegermiller said flooding downtown this afternoon might not be as bad as forecast yesterday due to the change in wind direction. If the winds are coming out of the west rather than the east, the storm surge along the shoreline won’t be as bad during high tide, he explained.
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