All eyes in Long Beach are on Earl.
City officials are keeping close watch on Hurricane Earl, which was listed as a category 4 storm Monday night, barreling just northeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and packing 135 MPH winds.
Emergency services in Long Beach were making plans for Earl's possible arrival Thursday night into Friday morning. "It appears to be way off shore right now and we should be fine," said Long Beach Fire Department Chief Scott Kemins.
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But if the hurricane drastically changes course and veers closer to Long Beach, city officials said they'll be ready.
They will meet later this week to draw up an action plan in case it is needed. A general hurricane preparedness strategy is already in place, which includes an immediate evacuation if Earl heads directly towards the barrier island, Kemins said.
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"It has to be pretty bad for there to be a mandatory evacuation," he said. "In my 30 years over here, we've not had a mandatory evacuation."
The closest the city came in recent memory was 1985, when Hurricane Gloria forced a voluntary evacuation.
The city mails out a pamphlet informing residents what to do in case of a hurricane.
City officials are in touch with the Nassau County Office of Emergency Management, which is the overall command center during powerful storm, and Long Beach lifeguards are also paying close attention to the storm. With the beach season winding down and temperatures reaching the 90s this week, swimmers are expected to hit the beaches in droves.
Paul Gillespie, chief of the Long Beach lifeguards, said that on Thursday at 2 p.m. local lifeguards will hold a conference call with nine other beach patrols, including Montauk, Jones Beach, Robert Moses and the Rockaways, to get a glimpse of what Earl is doing to wave height, the riptides and current.
If the rip current and waves are too treacherous, he said, Long Beach lifeguards will close the water to swimmers, but probably allow surfers in.
Lifeguards may make the swimming area smaller to make it easier to keep an eye on swimmers. They will also have to pay attention to possible erosion to the shorefront and be forced to remove 10 of the 25 steel lifeguard chairs.
Lauren Moriarty, an EMT with the Long Beach lifeguards, said portable lifeguard chairs, called "drag chairs," will be set up at the central swimming area, and lifeguards will adjust their efforts to safeguard swimmers depending on the different riptides on each beach.
"According to each beach, we will designate swimming areas and determine how deep swimmers can go," she said, adding that 75 to 85 lifeguards will be on duty.
Some local hardware stores said they have not yet seen the mad rush for supplies by residents to prepare them for a hurricane.
The American Red Cross has the following recommendations in the event of a hurricane:
- Board up or install storm shutters on windows.
- Keep a battery-powered radio handy to listen for the latest weather reports.
- Keep a generous supply of bottled water on hand, along with a week's supply of non-perishable foods.
- Have your car ready to go by checking gas, oil and coolant levels.
- Clear your yard of loose objects such as bicycles, lawn furniture and trash cans.
