In one of his last moves as New York governor, Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency for parts of N.Y., pleading for people to take warnings seriously ahead of Hurricane Henri and President Joe Biden to activate a federal emergency order for the incoming storm.
The emergency order includes the Bronx, Kings, Nassau, New York, Queens, Richmond, Suffolk, Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Orange, Dutchess, Sullivan, Columbia, Delaware, Greene, Broome, Chenango, Otsego, Rensselaer, Schoharie, Albany, Montgomery, Schenectady, Saratoga, and contiguous counties as Hurricane Henri threatens to make landfall in Long Island on Sunday.
The storm, which is expected to be near hurricane strength when it makes landfall, is forecast to affect coastal areas with dangerous storm surge, as well as heavy rainfall, dangerous surf conditions and widespread power outages. Inland locations, including Westchester County and Upstate areas, could also be affected with heavy rainfall and strong winds.
Gov. Cuomo is also requesting President Biden declare a pre-landfall emergency declaration. This federal declaration authorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide emergency protective measures, including direct federal assistance to New Yorkers, in the aftermath of Henri and its impacts.
The declaration provides assistance for measures taken to save lives, protect property, and address public health and safety issues.
An AccuWeather estimate of total damage and economic loss for Henri is $8-12 billion.
AccuWeather's estimate is based on an analysis incorporating independent methods to evaluate all direct and indirect impacts of the storm and is based on a variety of sources, statistics, and unique techniques AccuWeather uses to estimate the damage.
AccuWeather's estimate includes damage to homes, and businesses as well as their contents and cars, job and wage losses, infrastructure damage, auxiliary business losses, travel disruption, medical expenses and closures.
The estimate also accounts for the costs of power outages to homes and businesses and for economic losses due to road closures and evacuations, emergency management and the extraordinary government expenses for cleanup operations.
Henri was upgraded to a Category 1 hurricane Saturday with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph. Forecasts have Henri slowly strengthening through Saturday night as it moves over the warm, Gulf Stream waters.