Hurricane Irene has strengthened to a major Category 3 storm over the Bahamas, and there are still questions about the path the storm will take once the system gets closer to the tri-state this weekend.
Forecasters say a few showers could break out ahead of the storm on Saturday afternoon, with the wind and surf building into that night.
If Irene stays on the projected path, it could slice across Long Island sometime early Sunday and then quickly head up into New England on Sunday late afternoon.
Meanwhile, officials are calculating what they need to do if Irene becomes the first major hurricane to strike the East Coast in seven years.
They're scrambling to inspect bridges, dusting off evacuation plans and getting sandbags ready for potential floods. And considering where and when to move people out of harm's way.
"You have to recognize that you're living here on an island, and island living represents certain risks," said Edward Mangano, county executive in Long Island's Nassau County, where school buses were being moved to higher ground in case they're needed to evacuate residents to storm shelters. "And those risks appear now, at least, to be tracking toward us."
PREPARING FOR IRENE
Forecasters say when tropical systems get into northern latitudes, they tend to accelerate faster than the models project, meaning the storm might be out quicker, but not necessarily with a weaker impact.
Concerns include flooding from the tropical downpours, wind damage and beach erosion even if the storm does not make landfall.
Even without hurricane-force winds, northeastern states already drenched from a rainy August could see flooding and fallen trees from Irene.
"You want to go into a hurricane threat with dry soil, low rivers, a half moon," New Jersey state climatologist David Robinson said.
That is not the case. The Garden State has gotten twice as much rain this month as in a normal August, and high tide happens at 8 a.m. EDT on Sunday, when Irene might be passing by.
An official in a flood-prone section of the state is asking Gov. Chris Christie to release water from reservoirs in advance of the anticipated storm.
Pequannock Township Manager David Hollberg says the reservoirs are almost full and that could lead to more flooding than usual.
Hollberg says the township, Lincoln Park and other towns in the Passaic River basin have faced four major floods over the past 18 months that led to evacuations.
Hollberg also wants Christie to open the Pompton Lake floodgates instead of waiting for an automated system that activates when water rises.
State Environmental Protection Department spokesman Larry Ragonese told The Daily Record of Parsippany officials are considering the potential impact of the request on the supply of potable water and the impact to rivers downstream.
