By John Schwing

WESTPORT — April showers may escalate into April downpours, propelled by strong winds and triggering coastal flooding, late Wednesday through Thursday morning, according to the National Weather Service.

A “major coastal storm,” the NWS forecasts, is expected to sweep across southwestern Connecticut with:

• Strong to damaging winds today through early Thursday, clocked at 25 to 40 mph, with gusts up to 60 mph.

• 2 to 3 inches of rainfall.

• Widespread coastal flooding threat during high-tide periods Wednesday afternoon and early Thursday morning.

• Possible beach erosion.

Westport emergency services issued an advisory to people living in coastal sections of town that “significant coastal flooding is expected” during local high tides about 7:35 p.m. Wednesday and 8 a.m. Thursday. Residents were advised to move their vehicles from low-lying areas.

There is a “High Wind Warning” in effect through 6 a.m. Thursday, as well as a “Coastal Flood Warning” through 10 a.m. Thursday.

And after the stormy onslaught eases, showers and clouds are possible across Westport and the region through Friday evening, according to the weather service.

Temperatures both Wednesday and Thursday are expected to crest in the 40s, and fall to the mid-30s overnight.

As the possibility of showers eases Friday night, Saturday still should be mostly cloudy, with a high temperature near 50 degrees, the NWS says.

On Sunday, however, skies are finally expected to be mostly sunny, with high temperatures registering in the upper-50s.

As wind gusts picked up Wednesday, a few Westport outages — 48 out more than 12,700 local Eversource customers — were reported as of 5 p.m. Across its statewide customer base, the power company was reporting 2,182 had lost service.

In a statement issued Wednesday morning, Eversource — the power company that serves Westport and most of the state — said it “is ready for the heavy rain and strong winds that are expected to impact Connecticut.” 

Steve Sullivan, the Eversource president of electric operations for the state, said, “The high winds forecast, coupled with the still-saturated ground, have the potential to bring down trees and branches onto electric lines and equipment, causing damage and power outages.

“Our line and tree crews around the state are ready to respond as quickly as possible to whatever this storm brings,” he added.

Power disruptions can be reported online at Eversource.com or by calling 800-286-2000. Customers who signed up for the power company’s two-way texting feature can send a text to report an outage and receive outage updates as they happen.