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Nov 4, 2007 7:20 am US/Eastern
Optimistic Residents Weather Noel's Wind, Surf
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Remnants of Hurricane Noel battered parts of the Long Island and New Jersey shores.
CBS
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What was then-Tropical Storm Noel caused widespread flooding in Haiti and other Caribbean countries earlier this week, killing at least 118 people.
AP
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What was then-Tropical Storm Noel flooded parts of the Dominican Republic earlier this week. The storm killed at least 118 people throughout the Caribbean.
AP
Hurricane Noel was the deadliest storm of this year's hurricane season, and its remnants brought strong winds and heavy surf to parts of Long Island and New Jersey. By late Saturday evening, the storm passed to our north -- battering the New England coastline, but its fury made for a difficult day in many places.
Authorities made SOS calls to commercial fishermen to return to the docks and get out of the heavy surf, but surfer Joe Sayre, who rushed out from Oyster Bay to Shinnecock didn't get the message.
Sayre felt the storm was exciting, and told CBS 2 HD, "When life gives you lemons like today, you make lemonade!"
In East Hampton, Billy Joel's pronounced their homes too close for comfort, as high tides slammed the coast. The Gaffneys worried about the storm damaging their home, but their spirits were sky high.
"It's spectacular," said Kathleen Gaffney. "It's a pretty cool storm," add her husband Patrick Gaffney.
From the North Shore, where winds whirled around homes near the sound, to Babylon, where the water rose to such an extent the flood gates were opened to ease pressure, emergency preparedness directors like Gil Hanse, plan to be up again monitoring-all night with no sleep.
Hanse stressed residents whose basements flooded to shut down their oil burners, furnaces, and electrical panels to avoid short-circuiting.
The fury of this nor'easter is leaving flooding, downed trees, and power outages in its wake. Emergency crews remain on alert, and 121 Shelters in Suffolk County will be open overnight.
LIPA and LIRR urge you call them to report problems, and not to go near downed lines or flooded third rails.
The storm also left its mark along the Jersey shore. High winds and rough surf battered the coast Saturday morning. At the height of the storm -- wind gusts reached 55 miles per hour -- and waves were six feet high.
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