At just about the same time Westport officials were drafting a State of Emergency Friday afternoon, Westporters Frank and Wendy Ray were getting ready to have their small trailer towed out of its customary summer spot at East Beach.

Their fridges out back were stocked with ginger beer and rum (they love Dark and Stormys) and there were plenty of supplies inside the small camper. But even though the town hadn't yet issued the State of Emergency, and hurricane warnings hadn't yet been issued, the couple realized the writing was on the wall and they were packing up. Unlike some of their other neighbors at the beach, some of whom live in Boston or farther afield, their drive home was only a few miles up the road.

"A lot of work," said Frank, a retired school teacher who with Wendy has been coming to East Beach for four years.

"Two refrigerators, I gotta take out the grill, all this stuff," he said, motioning around toward aluminum framework out the trailer's back door. "It's all got to come out."

The ocean was still calm Friday afternoon, but up and down the rocky coast their neighbors were also getting ready to leave. The town warned residents via flyer Friday morning that if a Hurricane warning was issued by the National Weather Service, they were advised to move everything they could out before the storm's arrival some time Sunday. A representative from the East Beach Association spent much of Friday morning driving up and down the road, knocking on trailer doors and warning residents to prepare.

"I told them it might be a good idea to consider moving," he said.

State of Emergency

The Westport Select Board held an emergency meeting at 4 p.m. Friday to authorize a state of emergency as Tropical Storm Henri, which is expected to become a hurricane before landfall Sunday, arrives. The state of emergency:

1) All Westport beaches will be closed effective Saturday, August 21, 2021 at 8 PM

2) An Official Declaration of Emergency will be into effect at Midnight on Saturday, August 21, 2021, in order to be in effect for the entirety of Sunday, August 22, 2021.