Tropical storm Henri, which was feared to become a hurricane, inflicted major damage to east coast states Sunday, making landfall in Rhode Island and leaving 135,000 households from Maine to New Jersey without power.
Henri brought heavy rains and ensuing street flooding to New Jersey towns, with the level of water reaching 8 inches by Sunday afternoon, according to ABC News. (RELATED: Hurricane Watch Issued As Tropical Storm Set To Intensify, Head Toward Northeast. Some New Yorkers Prepare For Evacuations)
Flooding led to several vehicles being submerged in New Jersey, and firefighters in Newark had to rescue 86 people, 16 of whom were children, in a total of seven incidents, a Sunday statement from Brian O’Hara, the director of Newark’s department of public safety, read.
Rhode Island closed all major bridges in the state shortly before the storm made landfall near the coastal town of Westerly. Henri sustained winds of 60 mph and gusts reaching 70 mph, causing floods in the state’s Misquamicut Beach, ABC reported.
#Henri has made landfall in Rhode Island. It’s the state’s 1st landfalling tropical cyclone since Hurricane Bob in 1991.
Here’s 36 hours of radar showing its march to the coast, while flooding rains oscillate between New Jersey and the NYC metro from a nearby trough interaction: pic.twitter.com/02gdC5vzi5
— Jake Carstens (@JakeCarstens) August 22, 2021
The storm weakened as it moved further inland, heading towards northern Connecticut and southern Massachusetts. However, heavy rainfalls and winds up to 50 mph were being recorded in affected areas, The New York Times (NYT) reported.
Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency Saturday — a mere two days prior to the date he is supposed to leave office — over the fears of the tropical storm.
The Central Park in New York City saw a record-high rainfall level at 4.45 Sunday, according to the NYT.