Heavy rain, wind and a chance of flooding is expected late today or early tomorrow morning in Rhode Island as Tropical Storm Hanna approaches the Northeast.

The Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency will be staffing the state Emergency Operations Center in Cranston and monitoring the storm.

“We’ll be monitoring the storm and potentially staying open throughout the weekend depending on what the track looks like. We’ll stay open to support all locals and [the] state with resources should they exhaust their resources,” said Brittan Bates, a RIEMA official.

“A lot of towns are watching right now, waiting to see how close everything is today. It keeps pushing the storm farther to the Northeast. The ground is not already soaked, the rivers aren’t anywhere near full so there is less of a flooding concern,” Bates said.

RIEMA is advising people to take storm precautions by securing lawn items that could become airborne in heavy winds, such as sheds, lawn furniture, trash barrels and awnings. Bates said it’s important for families to have an evacuation plan to follow in case of emergency.

Richard Elliott, command duty officer for the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England, said that the Coast Guard has been warning boaters by making marine information broadcasts by radio. The broadcasts started yesterday morning. The Coast Guard also sent out aircraft from New Jersey to Maine to broadcast the warnings to people who may not have heard them.

“We are warning people not to try to ride out the storm in a small vessel. Take precaution and leave early. Pay attention to weather and take appropriate action,” Elliott said.

According to Neal Strauss, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service, Hanna is expected to accelerate northeast along the mid-Atlantic Coast and approach the southern New England coast early Sunday morning. The exact track and timing is subject to change, he said.

Strauss said that the storm may cause flooding in some urban areas and areas with poor drainage. Between 2 and 4 inches of rain is expected with higher amounts expected along central and western portions of Massachusetts, northern Connecticut and southwestern New Hampshire. The rain is expected to taper off after daybreak Sunday, Strauss said. During the height of the storm late Saturday night, winds could gust as high as 40 mph along the coast. Strauss said yesterday that coastal flooding is not expected.

He said that people who are traveling on the roads should be aware of the heavy downpours and take precautions. “There are expected to be some tropical downpours with Hanna as she approaches the coast anytime from late Friday night through early Sunday morning. People should exercise caution if traveling,” he said. Hanna heads toward Carolinas

NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — Tropical Storm Hanna roared along the edge of the Bahamas yesterday ahead of a possible hurricane hit on the Carolinas, leaving behind at least 61 dead in Haiti.

Hurricane Ike, a still-more-dangerous Category 4 storm, was advancing from the east.

Hanna was forecast to pass east of the Atlantic archipelago before striking along the coast of North or South Carolina by tomorrow, but the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Hanna’s sprawling bands of outer winds are likely to hit far sooner. Tropical-storm-force winds extended outward as far as 315 miles from the center.

tpina@projo.com