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A Long Island swimmer disappeared in the waters off Robert Moses State Park as 18-foot waves crashed onto the beaches, brought on by the deadly nor’easter hammering the NYC region.
The unidentified man was seen in the ocean near Field 3 — located on Fire Island’s western tip — at around 2:30 p.m. before he disappeared from view and didn’t exit the water, New York State Police said.
Officials launched a search to identify the missing swimmer, who was described as a white male wearing dark-colored shorts.
Police did not release additional information about the missing swimmer, but asked for help from the public if they knew of anyone in the area at the time who they are unable to locate.
Officials suspended their search for the swimmer Saturday evening because of darkness and are expected to relaunch Sunday, News12 reported.
Hazardous water conditions were issued for the popular Fire Island park Saturday afternoon as the storm continued to batter the East Coast Saturday afternoon.
Waves averaged 18 feet as sea levels were estimated between 15 and 20 feet with 25-foot sea swells at times, the National Weather Service said.
Winds averaged between 35 and 45 mph while gusts exceeded 60 mph.
Long Island — along with New York City, sections of New Jersey, Delaware, Connecticut and Massachusetts — has been under storm and coastal flood warnings
The first confirmed casualty of the late September storm was reported roughly an hour after the Long Island swimmer disappeared.
Leighton Brown, a 56-year-old worker for NYCHA, was killed when he was struck by a fallen tree at Brooklyn’s Cypress Hills Houses.
Brown suffered “trauma throughout his body” when heavy winds brought down the tree at 700 Euclid Avenue in East New York at around 3:30 p.m.
Follow live updates on the powerful nor’easter set to bring dangerous winds, flooding to the East Coast
The victim was brought to a local hospital in critical condition but was pronounced dead shortly after 5 p.m.
“My thoughts are with his entire family as they deal with this unimaginable loss. May he rest in peace, and may his service to our city never be forgotten,” NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani wrote on X, announcing Brown’s death.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency for the lower counties of the Empire State, urging residents to stay out of the water and avoid swimming, surfing and boating.
“Extremely dangerous rip currents and high surf make entering the ocean life-threatening. Stay off rock jetties and beaches where sudden high waves can sweep you into the water,” the declaration stated.
The original state of emergency was in effect from Sunday as the worst of the storm is expected through Sunday morning.
An upper-level vortex was expected to merge with the powerful cyclone a few hundred miles off New York City and push the center towards New Jersey and Long Island overnight, the NWS said.
The merge will result in the full force of the nor’easter impacting coastal southern New England to the northern Mid-Atlantic Sunday morning.
Long Island remains under a High Wind Warning as gusts have already taken down trees and branches across the island and knocked out electricity.
Nearly 17,000 customers in Suffolk County were without power, while 2,000 were in the dark in Nassau as of 4 a.m. Sunday, according to tracker PowerOutage.com.
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