Now a tropical storm with sustained winds of about 60 MPH, Henri came ashore along the Rhode Island Coast with its sights set on Southern New England. The National Hurricane Center has warned of dangerous storm surge, strong, gusty winds, and flooding rainfall expected across portions of the Northeast. Heavy rain already has been reported in New York City, where flash flooding resulting from more than 4 inches of rain in the region among other things prompted the evacuation tens of thousands attending a concert and swamped streets in the city’s rainiest day in 7 years.

The Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) reactivated Sunday at 1200 UTC on 14.325 MHz and 7.268 MHz at 2200 UTC, continuing until propagation is lost. Net participants report “ground-truth” weather data for forwarding to forecasters at the National Hurricane Center via its amateur radio station WX4NHC. One report to the net control station at around 1700 UTC indicated more than 5 inches of rain in southern Rhode Island and some 80,000 customers without power there.

The National Hurricane Service forecast that Henri will take a turn to the northwest this (Sunday) afternoon. It’s predicted to slow and possibly stall near the Connecticut-New York border tonight, followed by an east-northeastward track across northern Connecticut and southern Massachusetts on Monday.

Eastern Massachusetts ARES® Section Emergency Coordinator Rob Macedo, KD1CY, on Saturday announced tentative plans for the Commonwealth in advance of the storm’s arrival. This included coordination with ARES® volunteers in Western Massachusetts, as well as with SKYWARN teams and the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency.