Stubborn 3-day nor'easter lurches off Long Island, leaving 2,000 fallen trees, flooding, outages in wake

Sodden and bedraggled after an unusually long-lasting nor'easter, Long Island will finally dry out and clean up this week. 

Over three days of pelting rain and high winds, the storm downed hundreds of trees in Huntington, Babylon, Riverhead and elsewhere, flooded critical roads in North Hempstead and scoured beaches in Southold and Fire Island. One South Shore community, Babylon Village, had "flood tourists" who came to drive through the swamped streets, according to Mayor Mary Adams.

At Montauk Point at 4 a.m. Saturday, winds hit 81 mph, according to the National Weather Service. In Nassau, Bayville reported gusts of 54 mph at about 7 a.m. on Sunday. Upton recorded more than 5.3 inches of rain. In some South Shore neighborhoods off the Great South Bay, streets flooded up to Montauk Highway; Roads in Lindenhurst, at times, sat under as much as 2½ feet of water. 

"We saw damage everywhere" from wind, said weather service meteorologist John Cristantello; when it came to flooding, the most severely hit neighborhoods appeared to be those on the South Shore of Nassau and western Suffolk, he said. Over the storm's long course, "there was a lot of opportunity for damage to happen everywhere across the Island," he said.

The storm started overnight Friday and ended with lingering rain Monday.

"It is unusual but not quite unprecedented for a nor’easter to linger for so long," said Jase Bernhardt, an associate professor of geology, environment and sustainability at Hofstra. "It is possible that the time of year played a role, as the ‘blocking' pattern that allowed this storm to linger for so long would be more likely to occur at this time of year versus during the winter, when nor'easters are more common."

An unusually strong climate phenomenon known as El Niño, powered by warm waters in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, could contribute to more nor'easters this year, along with more high-tide flooding days and increased onshore winds, according to the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University. 

The storm had time to weaken and topple about 2,000 trees which, in some cases, tangled power lines to the tune of more than 128,000 outages that PSEG Long Island was still restoring Monday evening. 

Huntington Town Supervisor Ed Smyth said on Monday town workers were trying to clear 137 locations with downed trees or branches, some blocking streets or snarling electrical wires. That was down from a high of almost 400 blocked locations, he said. 

By Monday afternoon, Babylon Town had responded to 125 tree-related issues, said Vincent Piccoli, public works commissioner.

Mike Zaleski, Riverhead Town’s highway superintendent, said that it would take two weeks for town workers to clean up damage there. The storm downed 40 trees and dumped as much as 6 inches of rain, forcing temporary road closures.

In North Hempstead, Shore Road, a highly trafficked thoroughfare that runs along Manhasset Bay and connects the Port Washington peninsula to the rest of the town, had to be closed twice because of flooding Saturday and Sunday, Supervisor Jennifer DeSena said. Shore Road is undergoing a $7.7 million restoration, but "it was not passable until the tide went out," DeSena said. "Hopefully once that project is finished, it won’t be a regular occurrence."

The parking lot at North Hempstead Beach Park also flooded, DeSena said, forcing cancellation of the Greek Festival on the Harbor, one of many events that fell victim to the storm.

Islip turned to a fleet of three tanker trucks and seven hydraulic "super pumpers" to address its flooding. "The challenge for this particular storm was its prolonged nature,"  Town Supervisor Angie Carpenter said. "We had significant pumping both in anticipation and throughout the town, especially in our low-lying coastal communities."

At Jones Beach, a 6-foot sand wall protected the park's central mall, but the orchestra pit and concessions areas of the Northwell at Jones Beach Theater were damaged, said George Gorman, regional director of Long Island parks.

Amityville Village Mayor Mike O'Neill said storms like this one were part of "reality of South Shore communities. ... There was significant coastal and street flooding, not to the degree of Sandy by any means, but more so than prior nor’easters due to the fact that it was a multiple-event cycle."

Long Islanders can take some comfort, though: the forecast for the rest of the work week calls for no rain, with daytime temperatures mostly in the 70s and nighttime temperatures in the high 50s or low 60s.