Flooding Warning in Effect

Heavy rains may work with high tides to flood some low-lying coastal areas Monday and Tuesday nights, according to the National Weather Service, which expects possible flooding to be "minor" but "widespread."

The weather service issued a "Coastal Flooding Advisory" at 3:16 p.m. and an overlapping "Coastal Flood Watch" in the same report and covering the same area along the western and north central coast of Long Island Sound. At 3:25 p.m. the weather service issued a more generalized "Flood Watch" covering a larger area.

The Coastal Flooding Advisory is in effect from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Monday night and Tuesday morning and again the next night at the same times. The weather service says that minor flooding may occur in conjunction with high tide, which occurs in Bridgeport at 11:11 p.m. and in Stamford at 11:14 p.m.

Tides may rise another 1 to 1.5 feet during the Monday-Tuesday period and 1.5 to 2 feet in the Tuesday-Wednesday period.

According to the weather service: "A Coastal Flood Watch means that conditions favorable for flooding are expected to develop. Coastal residents should be alert for later statements or warnings and take action to protect property."

The area covered by the current Coastal Flood Warning and Coastal Flood Watch extends from northern Queens and southern Bronx and Westchester counties in New York state though southern Fairfield and New Haven counties.

The Flood Watch issued at 3:25 p.m. is in effect from Tuesday morning to late Tuesday night and is for an area extending far from the coast, including all of Fairfield County, the New York state counties of Orange, Rockland, Putnam and Westchester, the New York City borroughs of Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens, and parts of northern New Jersey.

According to the weather service, "Aa nearly stationary storm system over the mid-Atlantic states will push a constant stream of moisture into the region through the middle of the week." About 3 to 4 inches of rain will fall in the region, "with locally higher amounts. through Wednesday night." Small streams could flood, and people living in flood-prone urban areas should be prepared for flooding, the forecasters say.