Astronomical Low Tide — Northeast Suffolk, New York

2024-08-19 · Northeast Suffolk, New York

Event narrative

Upwards of 10 feet of water inundated a building of the Smithtown Public Library damaging historical documents and compromising walls.

Wider weather episode

A frontal system over the area on August 18th and into the early morning hours of August 19th allowed for the development of multiple rounds of slow moving heavy thunderstorms which resulted in widespread significant to catastrophic flash flooding for portions of Southeast New York, specifically for the north shore of Long Island. Several rounds of rain moved through during the day on August 18th. By the afternoon, a line of thunderstorms moving in from the west interacted with several mesoscale boundaries and allowed the thunderstorms to intensify and train over Long Island during the overnight hours into early on August 19th. These thunderstorms produced rainfall rates of upwards of 3-5 inches per hour with total rainfall amounts of upwards of 10 inches, much of it falling over a 2-4 hour period. This resulted in numerous water rescues, several dam breaks, several road washouts, and significant damage to numerous buildings across the north shore of Long Island.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1213950. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.