(Reuters) – Tropical Storm Henri was gathering strength on Saturday and was expected to become a hurricane, making landfall on Sunday in Long Island or southern New England at or near hurricane strength, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
At 8 a.m. (1200 GMT), Henri was carrying top sustained winds of near 70 miles per hour (110 kph) and was expected to strengthen through to the evening, the NHC said.
While southern U.S. states such as Florida are used to hurricanes, storms this strong are rare in the northeast during the Atlantic hurricane season.
(Reporting by Aakriti Bhalla in Bengaluru; Editing by Frances Kerry)
