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A slow-moving nor'easter pounded the Northeast for a second day Sunday, flooding coastal communities, knocking out power to tens of thousands and killing a New York City worker. The storm is expected to linger through Sunday with heavy rain and dangerous surf.
A powerful nor'easter pummeled the Northeast shoreline for a second day Sunday, flooding coastal communities and knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes.
The slow-moving storm, which killed a New York City housing authority worker when a tree fell Saturday, was expected to linger through Sunday with heavy rain, strong winds and dangerous surf all the way to New England. Tidal surges swamped low-lying neighborhoods in New Jersey while wind gusts toppled trees on New York's Long Island, damaging homes and bringing down utility poles. In the New Jersey beach town of Sea Bright, each high tide brought a new round of flooding.
Northeast Flooding and Storm Damage
It is not like a one-time occurrence, said Caroline Virenius, whose garage filled with about a foot of water, or 30 centimetres. It is getting wet again and again, she said. The nor'easter triggered memories of Superstorm Sandy, which left behind over $60 billion in damage across the eastern U.S. in 2012.
While this storm's impact has been nowhere near that, it could be the first of several along the East Coast this fall because of an El Nino climate pattern that is disrupting this year's weather. More than 3 inches, or 7.6 centimetres, of rain had fallen in some areas of Long Island since the storm began, according to the National Weather Service.
Well over 100,000 customers were without power across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic at times on Sunday, according to PowerOutage.us. The most widespread outages were in counties along the coast from New Jersey to Connecticut. The storm forced a change of plans for many people. Numerous flights were canceled or delayed up and down the coast.
Travel Disruptions Across the Region
More than 250 flights had been canceled at Boston Logan International Airport by late Sunday morning as wind gusts reached 40 mph, or 64 kph, according to the Massachusetts Port Authority. Hundreds of flights were also cancelled at the popular Massachusetts tourist destinations of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket.
The Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs, both gearing up for the playoffs during the final weekend of the regular Major League Baseball season, had to shuffle the schedule for their three-game series. They played a double-header Friday in Boston to try to avoid the storm.
Then MLB rescheduled their finale on Sunday to occur in Florida, at the home of the Tampa Bay Rays. Meanwhile, Ed Sheeran cancelled his high-profile concerts Friday and Saturday at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. Water a few inches deep filled streets in New York City's Howard Beach neighbourhood but did not deter residents from venturing out for coffee Sunday morning.
Residents Face Severe Coastal Flooding
Carole Ann Palmer, who owns Jingles Bait and Tackle in North Beach Haven, New Jersey, said this was the worst flooding she has seen in 10 years. On Saturday, she was like, oh my God, it just keeps getting higher and higher, said Palmer, who lives above the store. The front step was swept away in the storm and she saw neighbours kayaking through the streets on Saturday.
Her biggest problem on Sunday was taking her two puppies outside to relieve themselves. She had to put on waders and carry them to dry land. I take one at the time, carry them across the street so they can do their business and then come back, dry them off and then do the other one. It is a workout, Palmer said.
Bernard Dowd waded through tidal water Sunday to get to his Sea Bright home, a day after he got back from work to find his basement filled up like a swimming pool. But he said the situation around his neighborhood likely would have been much worse if it were not for new rules requiring homeowners to raise the height of their homes in the wake of Sandy, which devastated the community.
He also noticed that many around the community had lined their home and businesses with sandbags, something he wishes he would have done. I am always thinking they are hyping the storm, he said. In Edgewater, N.J. , along the Hudson River, water had spilled into a large parking lot packed with cars.
Video posted to social media showed one car nearly submerged, with just its sunroof poking above the water, as people moved other vehicles farther from the rising tides. Kenny Formica, owner of Surf City Marina on the Jersey Shore, was trying to keep busy Saturday as he sat at home watching water rise inside his marina through surveillance cameras. Water getting inside the building is rare, Formica said.
The last time he remembers it happening was during Hurricane Sandy, which he said caused more than $4 million in damage to his business. Ahead of the storm, Formica said workers secured dock lines, moved loose items and equipment out of harm's way and parked the marina's trucks and forklifts at the highest point of the property. By Saturday morning, even those were nearly surrounded by water.
Boat Loss and Wedding Complications
Formica said he woke Saturday to messages from customers reporting missing boats and Jet Skis. He said one customer sent him a video around 4 a.m. showing his 25-foot, or 7.6-metre, boat after it had blown off its lift. This is like an 8,000-pound boat and, you know, a $150,000 boat, just gone, Formica said. Farther south, a highway closure on North Carolina's Hatteras Island scrambled Jayden Sink and Kimberly Laprad's Saturday wedding plans.
The Virginia couple had made it onto the island before the storm, but most of their roughly 45 guests were stranded on the other side of the closure, the Island Free Press reported. A local campground offered a new venue, cabins and an officiant, and a DJ volunteered to provide music. Organizers invited anyone on the island to come celebrate with the couple Saturday afternoon.
Forecast Warns of Continuing Storm Risks
Nor'easters are not unusual as New England moves into fall, but this one is coming early in the season. State officials along the East Coast urged people to use caution. Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer took to social media Saturday to implore people to keep an eye on the forecast.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said coastal flooding is the biggest threat, but the storm will also bring heavy rains, powerful winds and waves as high as six metres. The rain is underway and while it is only half an inch or so thus far, mark my words: Much more is coming, the governor said early Saturday. The worst of the remaining rainfall was expected Sunday from northern New Jersey into southern New England.
While the storm was gradually weakening, tidal flooding would stay through high-tide cycles Sunday night, said Bob Oravec, a lead forecaster with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland. There will be a lot of high winds, a lot of high tides and heavy rain possibility over the next few days for the northeastern U.S., Oravec said.
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CP24:Powerful nor’easter floods Northeast again, causing problems from New Jersey to New EnglandThis story was compiled and edited by the HeadTopics newsroom and HT AI from the reports above.
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