New England prepares for coastal flooding from Hurricane Erin

AccuWeather

The New England region is bracing for coastal flooding and rip currents influenced by Hurricane Erin as the storm continues to track northward offshore heading into this weekend.

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00:00Joining us is Chip Riley, Emergency Preparedness Director for Barnstable County, Massachusetts.

00:04Thanks so much for joining us and tell us what your biggest concern right now for Cape Cod

00:08as the storm approaches. Well, we know we're going to have some high sea conditions.

00:13We know there's going to be some rip currents out there. So we're counseling the folks here

00:17on the Cape who are visiting or living here to be conscious if they're going to any of

00:21the south facing beaches. We know there's going to be some big waves and we ask them

00:25to be safe if they're going down to those regions. Yeah, there's a big concern. I would

00:29imagine because again, everybody knows Aaron's well out to sea, but it's the size

00:34of the storm. And that's the concern that people understand that even though the hurricane

00:39is well out to sea, there's rough surf and even some low lying areas are vulnerable to

00:46some flooding, especially during times of high tide. How does that narrow? How does

00:51that impact your plans? Well, fortunately for us, it's a good direction, storm direction

00:58for us. So the northern beaches, the ones are a little more susceptible to coastal flooding.

01:04Our south facing beaches have high dunes and it's not too much of an issue. We do expect

01:10some splash over during high tide tomorrow morning, but it shouldn't be too traumatic.

01:16And that's one of the benefits of living on a peninsula, right? Our south facing beaches

01:19are going to have pretty huge waves, but the north facing beaches in the bay are going to

01:24be nice and calm. And that's where we're encouraging folks to go if they are heading out to the beach.

01:28I love it. Makes sense to me. All right. What steps are being taken by your teams to protect

01:32residents and visitors, especially along the beaches? You said the recommendations to go

01:37to the bay. Anything else? Well, we've been working with our partners up and down the Cape for

01:42about a week now. This is a good wake up call for us. We know we're susceptible to storms here in Cape

01:48Cod. It was a good opportunity to sort of dust off our emergency response plans, to talk to our

01:52partners, to get our systems and procedures up to speed, update our computers, things like that,

01:58make sure our emergency operation centers are ready to go and just communicate. And that's a big thing

02:03we do here on the Cape is communicate in times of disaster. We have a great event going on here

02:08today. I'm down in Provincetown. We're supporting the Provincetown Carnival Parade. So it may be windy

02:13and crazy on the beaches, but there are other things to do here on the Cape and this is a good

02:19opportunity and a good example of that. And again, from an impact to your business and residence,

02:25this seems like the impacts there, you're ready for it, but the adverse effects shouldn't be all

02:32that great, especially the businesses where we're getting to the end of the vacation season.

02:38We do. You know, we may have a rough day tomorrow. We had some rain overnight, but fortunately it's

02:44clearing up now. We may have a rough day tomorrow, but there's other opportunities or other things to

02:49do here on the Cape. And that's great. Like I said, the Bayside beaches are open. Our retail shops are

02:55open. Our folks love to interact with the guests that come to visit us here on the Cape. And there's

03:00plenty of things to do that don't include going to the ocean. It's so tempting. I want to go. I've never

03:05been the way you say the Cape. It just sounds like such a fabulous place to be. And I'm sure you

03:09love it yourself. Chip Riley, Emergency Preparedness Director for Barnesville County, Massachusetts.

03:13Thanks so much for joining us on AccuA the Early.

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