After making landfall in Rhode Island Sunday, Henri weakened as it moved slowly along the Eastern U.S., bringing heavy rain but also relief that the storm didn’t hit as hard as feared.
Tens of thousands of homes and businesses lost power in Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts. Heavy rains that could cause flash flooding are still expected in parts of the Northeast.
The National Hurricane Center downgraded the storm twice on Sunday. As of Sunday night, Henri was considered a tropical depression. Sunday morning, it downshifted to a tropical storm from a Category 1 hurricane when its sustained maximum winds fell to 70 miles an hour from 75 miles an hour.
Henri was expected to keep slowing and turn north on Monday morning.
Henri hit the coast of Rhode Island, near Westerly, at about 12:15 p.m. EDT with sustained winds of 60 miles an hour. Conditions in Westerly had calmed by midafternoon Sunday.
Michael Cardiff, owner of the Villa Bed and Breakfast, canceled all the inn’s reservations earlier in the day as Henri approached and the power went out as it made landfall. But the storm was sparing his property so far.
“There’s been no damage, no flooding,” Mr. Cardiff said.
Earlier in the week, some weather maps were projecting that Henri’s eye was headed right for Woods Hole, Mass., on the southwestern tip of Cape Cod. But the storm veered to the west, sparing Woods Hole the brunt of it.
At the Woods Hole Yacht Club on Sunday afternoon, a group of members gathered on a porch looking out on Great Harbor. Most of the scores of boats moored in the harbor had been pulled out of the water in the days leading up to the storm. All the skiff lines on the Yacht Club dock were empty.
“Woods Hole was incredibly prepared for this,” said Mark Howard, 58 years old. “Everyone had Bob in their memory.”
In 1991, Hurricane Bob devastated Woods Hole, destroying boats and causing massive damage to homes and other property.
Yacht club member David Epstein was nursing a sore back from taking two sailboats, two skiffs and a motor boat to safety. He said he has no regrets, even though they probably would have ridden out the storm fine if he had left them alone. “We’re all just breathing a sigh of relief,” he said.
Speaking at the White House on Sunday evening, President Biden warned of possible flooding and power outages and said, “this storm has the potential for widespread consequences across the region.” He encouraged residents to ensure they have food, water and medical supplies in preparation for the storm and to wear face masks when sheltering in large groups to avoid the spread of Covid-19.
Henri was expected to slow near the Connecticut-New York border Sunday evening and then move across northern Connecticut or southern Massachusetts on Monday, the National Hurricane Center said.
By late Sunday afternoon, the National Hurricane Center lifted all coastal tropical storm warnings.
The storm was predicted to bring 3 inches to 6 inches of rain over parts of Long Island, New England, southeast New York, New Jersey and northeast Pennsylvania, according to the center.
“Tropical rainfall comes down heavy and it comes down fast,” said Dennis Feltgen, a spokesman for the National Hurricane Center. “Our biggest concern is the flooding.”
Northeastern states prepared emergency personnel and equipment in anticipation of potential rescue efforts, power outages and obstructed roadways.
By around noon on Sunday, about 75,000 homes and businesses had lost power in Rhode Island, with nearly 20,000 in Connecticut and 6,800 in Massachusetts also hit by power outages, according to the National Weather Service.
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont issued a state of emergency, ordering 200 members of the state National Guard to begin work Saturday morning assembling necessary teams and equipment. The Democrat told residents to plan to shelter in place Sunday afternoon through Monday morning.
In New York City, more than 4 inches of rain came down over Central Park on Saturday night, with 1.94 inches of rain falling between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. Saturday, the most in a single hour at that location, the National Weather Service said.
While rain showers continued on Sunday, businesses remained largely unaffected. The heavy rains didn’t deter Eric Heller, 47, and Chris Carciello, 56, from enjoying a beer at the outdoor patio of the bar District Local in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan.
“What else are you going to do on a rainy Sunday,” Mr. Heller said. “It’s nice to hear the rain.”
On Sunday, Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee banned all tractor-trailers and motorcycles from the state’s roadways, except those carrying emergency supplies, to prevent accidents.
The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation closed state-run campgrounds, waterfronts, pools, parks and other properties through Monday.
“We need to take it seriously,” said Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican. “It has been a long time since we’ve had a storm like this one.”
The White House on Saturday said Mr. Biden convened a call with governors of Northeastern states, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and others to discuss the federal response.
FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell said FEMA was prepositioning more than 700 personnel, as well as meals, tarps and generators, the White House said. Officials on the call also discussed what utility companies were doing to prepare for the potential for widespread power outages, including moving additional line and tree crews and other equipment from outside the region.
On the call were the governors of Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island, as well as Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York, who will soon become the state’s governor.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is expected to resign from his office at 11:59 p.m. on Monday, issued a disaster declaration and said state agencies will begin deploying emergency resources to areas in the storm’s path.
The state Department of Transportation will send personnel and equipment such as chippers and dump trucks to affected parts of the state, as well as extra generators to Long Island and the Hudson Valley.
Long Island Rail Road service between New York City and the Hamptons, at the island’s eastern end, was suspended beyond Patchogue, about 60 miles east of the city, into Sunday afternoon. John Harrison, a dispatcher at Southampton-based Hometown Taxi, said that with trains canceled the company had been getting calls for long-distance rides into the city.
“My drivers have been all over. Some of the back roads are flooded, but the main roads are fine,” Mr. Harrison said. Conditions have been benign compared with other storms given that his office hadn’t lost power, he said.
Elsewhere, Hurricane Grace left at least eight people dead in its passage across Mexico’s Gulf Coast state of Veracruz, where it brought flooding and mudslides and knocked out power. It weakened quickly as it crossed Mexico’s mountainous terrain and dissipated over central Mexico on Saturday.