Nor’easter brings flooding to North Fork; outages reported in Orient
The first nor’easter of the season brought moderate flooding to coastal areas across the North Fork Saturday.
While local town and police officials said the storm has led to only a few road closures and emergencies, it has interrupted some services and canceled events.
The Cross Sound Ferry canceled departures out of Orient Point due to the storm. The ferry schedule will resume Sunday morning.
PSEG Long Island also reported more than 400 outages in Orient Saturday afternoon.
In both the Greenport and Riverhead downtown areas, high tide brought with it flooding, as it tends to do in these types of storms.
Peter Rowsom of Preston’s Chandlery in Greenport, reported flooding in his store, which he described as “about what we expected.” With more than 100 years on the waterfront, the family is well versed in what to do when a nor’easter hits, so they got their products off the floor and even kayaked for a bit inside the store.
Southold Town Police Chief Martin Flatley said police were busy with downed wires and trees, but no injuries had been reported.
Late in the afternoon Saturday, Vincent Orlando, Southold Highway Superintendent said, “We have some trees and wires down, but not that dramatic. Overall the issue was not the rain but the wind, full moon and high tide. It is receding now but we still have some closed streets due to flooding. I checked the wind meter in my office in Peconic and at one point last night or today it hit a gust of 34 miles an hour. That’s not horrible. But if it can blow this much water in, I’d hate to think what a category one hurricane could do.”
In Riverhead, businesses on the south side of East Main Street were keeping a close eye at high tide on the Peconic Riverfront. The riverfront parking lot was closed by police, but water reached as high as the doors on a few cars that hadn’t been moved.
Riverhead town officials got an early jump warning residents of the pending storm by Friday afternoon and urging them to take caution.
The National Weather Service is expected to lift its coastal flood warning at 3 p.m. Saturday.
Top Caption: Poquatuck Park in Orient experienced flooding Saturday. (Credit: Troy Gustavson)
