By WPRO News

With Tropical Storm Henri packing the potential to reach hurricane strength by the time it reaches the Southern New England coast over the weekend, Rhode Island officials are urging the public to take the time now to stock up on essentials, learn routes to escape from coastal areas, and otherwise prepare to ride out the storm.

Henri would become the first hurricane to make a direct strike on New England in 30 years since Hurricane Bob.

“The storm has the potential for very high winds… heavy rainfall, storm surge, coastal and inland flooding, and heavy winds can cause damage or destroy homes, buildings or roads, as well as cause power, water and gas outages” said Rhode Island Emergency Management Director Marc Pappas at a briefing late Friday afternoon at EMA headquarters in Cranston.

National Grid said it was preparing by bringing in extra crews to assess and repair damage.

“We will have a period of time where we’re doing damage assessment,” said Terry Sobolewski, President of National Grid Rhode Island. “That’s where we’re understanding what damage has been done to the system, where lines are down. That damage assessment process has to finish before we can provide estimated restoration times to the public.” 

People are being urged to stay home and away from coastal areas.

“One of the biggest challenges is dealing with sightseers who go out to coastal areas in a storm like this,” said Rhode Island State Police Superintendent Colonel James Manni.

“It’s extremely dangerous, not only to them, but to the fire service that are trying to save them when they get swept out into the ocean which usually happens just about every storm, someone gets swept out down by Narragansett,” said Col. Manni.

To discourage sightseers along the coast, Rhode Island Department of Emergency Management said that it anticipates that state beaches will remain open on Saturday but will likely close on Sunday with a delayed opening of 12 PM on Monday.

In a statement, DEM said that it will be barricading the entrances to Beavertail State Park in Jamestown and the Camp Cronin Fishing Area in Narragansett – the sites of recent drownings – to be very clear that the public should not be there.

The U.S. Coast Guard Friday issued a statement urging the boating public to stay off the water, evacuate coastal areas as necessary, secure boats and belongings, stay clear of beaches, to be prepared and to stay informed by monitoring local radio, television and VHF radio broadcasts.