Henri Causes Flooding, Power Outages After Depression Downgrade

(Bloomberg) -- Henri is soaking the U.S. Northeast with rain and disrupting transport after being downgraded to a tropical depression. 

The former hurricane will produce additional rainfall of 1 to 3 inches, with locally higher amounts possible, over portions of Long Island, New England, southeast New York, New Jersey, and eastern Pennsylvania through Monday, the National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory at 5am local time. It caused a trail of power outages and flooded roads along the coast. Dominion Energy was forced to reduce output at the Millstone Power Station.  

“Slow-moving Henri is expected to continue to produce heavy rainfall and flooding across portions of southern New England and the Northern Mid-Atlantic states through today,” the National Hurricane Center said. “Heavy rainfall from Henri will continue to result in limited to considerable flash, urban, and small stream flooding impacts, along with minor to isolated moderate river flooding.”

After making landfall in Rhode Island over the weekend, the depression is now about 90 miles west of Hartford, Connecticut, with maximum sustained winds of 30 miles per hour. It’s nearly stationary, but is expected to start moving eastward later on Monday. 

Natural Gas prices rose as much as 1.7% as power plants reduced output because of the heavy rain. More than 50,000 homes and businesses are without power across the region, according to Poweroutage.us, which tracks outages. As many as 13,500 utility workers from dozens of states were put on standby to help restore power, according to the Edison Electric Institute, a utility trade group. 

A resident takes photos of the waves as Henri approaches Westerly, Rhode Island, on Aug. 22.Photographer: Stew Milne/AP Photo

Henri is the latest in a grim parade of extreme weather events worldwide as climate change takes hold. Massive wildfires have blackened huge swaths of California, Greece, Algeria and Siberia, sending smoke over the North Pole for the first time on record. July was the hottest month ever recorded on Earth.

And in a separate major event, heavy rain fell across western and central Tennessee late Friday into Saturday, dropping as much as 17 inches (43 centimeters) in McEwen, a small town west of Nashville, said Brian Hurley, a senior branch forecaster at the U.S. Weather Prediction Center. At least 22 people died in the resulting floods, according to the Associated Press.

A continental storm coming across Pennsylvania seems to have sapped some of Henri’s energy and moisture, said Jim Rouiller, lead meteorologist at the Energy Weather Group. It also helped slow Henri down as it crossed an area of cooler water that robbed it of its strength.

“It didn’t come in as ferocious as predicted,” he said. “I was expecting a bit more out of it but it really hasn’t materialized.”

Hurricanes and tropical storms depend on warm ocean water to build power and maintain strength. The cooler water has just the opposite effect and that could mean that the feared flooding and power outages won’t be as bad.

The winds, rain and surge damage could reach at least $1 billion in losses, said Chuck Watson, a disaster modeler with Enki Research. Many of those costs will be absorbed by residents, who will make repairs themselves or because the damage won’t reach insurance deductibles. Insured losses will probably top out at $500 million, he said. 

(Updates with new details throughout)

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