Henri Set To Make Landfall: What To Expect On Long Island

LONG ISLAND, NY — Henri weakened slightly to a tropical storm Sunday morning and its track no longer includes it making landfall on Long Island, but there remain major threats to the area throughout the day.

"Regardless of designation, impacts remain the same," the National Weather Service said after Henri lost its hurricane status.

At 8 a.m., Henry was about 40 miles southeast of Montauk with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph. It was moving northwest at 16 mph.

A tropical storm warning is in effect for the entire island. Henri will be near hurricane strength when it makes landfall in likely either Connecticut or Rhode Island late Sunday morning or early afternoon. It's expected to pass just off Montauk.

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The wind threat for the region has decreased as Henri's track shifted east, but wind gusts on the island could still reach 60-70 mph through the afternoon, more than enough to cause damage to trees and power lines.

As of 8:50 a.m. Sunday, PSEG Long Island says 2,557 of its customers were without power. Most of those outages are in the Town of Southampton. See the outage map.

The period of heaviest rain will be between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m., when 3-6 inches or more may fall over much of Suffolk County, the weather service said.

A flood watch remains in effect for the entire region with a moderate potential for flash flooding into Sunday night.

There remains the potential for life- threatening storm surge along the immediate shore of Long Island through Sunday evening.