“The National Hurricane Center has issued a rare hurricane watch for parts of New England, warning that Tropical Storm Henri will likely develop into a hurricane before making landfall on the northeastern U.S. coast this weekend. ‘If Henri strikes southeast New England as a hurricane this weekend, it will be the first direct hurricane landfall since Bob in 1991,’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration spokesman Chris Vaccaro told NPR. The hurricane watch was issued early Friday, covering a large portion of Long Island and areas from New Haven, Conn., to Sagamore Beach, Mass., the National Hurricane Center said. Resort islands such as Block Island, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket are also in the watch zone” NPR reports.

“In addition to strong winds and heavy rain, forecasters are warning of a storm surge that could inundate land with 3 to 5 feet of water. ‘Confidence is high that the event will occur Sunday into Monday,’ the National Weather Service office in Boston said in a briefing early Friday. It added that damaging winds were especially possible east of Henri’s track, while rains could cause flooding to the west. A hurricane watch means that hurricane conditions are possible within the watch area; forecasters normally issue the alerts roughly 48 hours before they expect the first tropical storm-force winds to arrive. The first tropical storm winds from Henri could reach the shore late Saturday.”