Nor’easter brings flooding to North Fork, some power outages

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.

In both the Riverhead and Greenport downtown areas, high tide brought with it flooding, as it tends to do in these types of storms.

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. Peconic Avenue and Meetinghouse Creek Road in Aquebogue were both briefly closed as the water breached the road, police said.

Fewer than 100 outages were active in Riverhead Saturday afternoon, according to PSEG Long Island.

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 lifted its coastal flood warning at 3 p.m. Saturday.

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.

The Cross Sound Ferry canceled departures out of Orient Point due to the storm. The ferry schedule will resume Sunday morning. By late afternoon, Southold Highway Superintendent Vincent Orlando said high water was retreating and he expected many roads closed due to high water would soon be reopened.

PSEG Long Island also reported more than 400 outages in Orient Saturday afternoon.

Top Caption:A flooded Peconic Riverfront parking lot just before high tide Saturday. (Credit: Grant Parpan)