As Hurricane Sandy Looms, ‘Colossal Tide’ Predicted

South Shore communities saw the first signs of Hurricane Sandy’s approach Sunday night, with flooding reported in several towns and one official predicting a “colossal tide.”

In Long Beach, town officials reported that several streets were flooded by a chalky mix of churned-up floodwaters, wet sand and sea foam. In Freeport, emergency management officials said, the rising tide could be like none ever seen before.

Flooding on the South Shore was among several late developments as weather watchers and millions of on-edge residents continued to track Sandy’s path toward the tri-state area.

Evacuation centers were open Sunday but had plenty of room available in Suffolk and Nassau counties by early Monday, officials said. The storm’s size and strength led Port Authority officials to shut down the area’s three major airports Sunday night, canceling hundreds of flights with hundreds more expected to be canceled in the coming days.

It was clear, not even the nation’s powerful economic engine — the New York Stock Exchange — was a match for Sandy. Officials said stock trading is canceled for Monday.

Earlier, the National Weather Service revised a previous prediction and said higher amounts of rain and even greater wind gusts will hit Long Island Monday with Sandy’s arrival The brunt of the storm is expected to hit at about 3 p.m. and is expected to churn and slam the area for an extended period, weather officials said.

Gusts could reach as high as 85 mph in coastal areas of Long Island on top of sustained winds of 40 to 50 mph, with rainfall totaling as much as 6 inches in some areas, according to Sean Potter, a spokesman at the service’s Upton bureau.

Add to that the storm surge, which could reach 11 feet in some areas during high tides, and Monday’s forecast appears grim indeed.

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