Tropical Storm Henri caused heavy rains, power outages and strong wind gusts in southern New England, and will continue to do so into Monday, even after being downgraded to a tropical storm from a hurricane.
Tropical Storm Henri brought heavy rains, power outages and strong wind gusts into southern New England, but largely spared Massachusetts a heavy blow after making landfall in Rhode Island and drifting west. “We’re in excellent shape, and we’re knocking on wood,” said Chicopee Mayor John Vieau late Sunday afternoon, in a city forecasted to be dumped with heavy rainfall and other storm effects. “We’ve prepared for the worst and been really lucky, so we’re thankful.” The storm made landfall in Westerly, R.I., at 12:15 Sunday afternoon and continued its way across Rhode Island and Connecticut, without the strong impact on most of central and western Massachusetts as of late Sunday afternoon that had been previously predicted. According to the National Hurricane Center, Henri was over central Connecticut Sunday evening, and was expected to stall along its border with New York Sunday night and move across northern Connecticut or southern Massachusetts by Monday afternoon. Heading into Sunday night, the National Hurricane Center warned of “considerable” flash, urban and small stream flooding” over portions of Long Island, New England, eastern New York, New Jersey and northeast Pennsylvania, portions of which received more than nine inches of rain Sunday.
