Fears of coastal flooding on Long Island amid powerful winter storm
NEW YORK (WABC) -- There is a threat of coastal flooding on Long Island as a powerful blizzard could potentially bring up to two feet of snow across both Nassau and Suffolk counties.
A total of 22 counties are under a state of emergency in New York. Gov. Kathy Hochul is activating 100 members of the National Guard to help with the emergency response. Utility companies also have additional workers to help out in case of power outages.
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The Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced on that it is temporarily suspending all service beginning at 1 a.m. on Monday until weather conditions allow for safe resumption.
Officials said the suspension allows crews to focus on snow-clearing efforts from the blizzard, which includes projected extreme velocity winds on eastern Long Island, to provide safe and reliable service when possible.
Starting at 7 p.m. Sunday, service was reduced to hourly on the Port Jefferson, Port Washington branches, and half-hourly on the Babylon Branch.
Meanwhile, Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine issued a travel ban for Suffolk County beginning 9 p.m. Sunday through 9 p.m. Monday. The ban does not apply to essential workers and plow operators.
Aside from the snow accumulation, there are also concerns over coastal flooding on Long Island, with the high tide coming just before 11 a.m.
"Living down here, you deal with the floods, the snow, you know, it comes in. And being by the water, we worry about the flood more than anything else. The tides, you know, that's what gets us," Long Island resident Gary Jones said.
"Like when Hurricane Sandy came, I had 12 feet of water in my house."
The storm is poised to be the biggest snow-maker to slam the Tri-State area since the storm of January 2016, which was the biggest snowstorm to ever hit New York City on record.
Executives in both Nassau and Suffolk counties have declared state of emergencies in their respective counties.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman is ordering that no one go on the roads and travel during the height of the storm unless they are an essential worker. They will have 75 plow and salt trucks ready to go to help with the storm response.
Other residents, like Paul Phinney, tell Eyewitness News that while he is used to storm conditions, he is not looking forward to the aftermath.
"It's challenging, challenging, yeah, because plows come, you get plowed in and you got to dig out, and that's a lot of work," Phinney said.
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