A slow-moving early-season nor’easter flooded coastal communities from North Carolina to New England, killed a New York City housing worker, disrupted air and road travel and left more than 130,000 customers without electricity as dangerous tides persisted Sunday.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
BOSTON — A powerful nor’easter continued battering the East Coast on Sunday after killing a New York City worker, cutting electricity to more than 130,000 customers and sending seawater into communities from North Carolina to New England.
The slow-moving storm spent much of the weekend lingering near the coast, allowing repeated high tides, persistent winds and heavy surf to compound flooding and beach erosion. Although forecasters said the system was gradually weakening Sunday, coastal flooding remained a threat through additional high-tide cycles and into Monday in some areas. :chatgpt-content-reference{index=”0″}
New York, New Jersey and Connecticut were among the hardest-hit states. More than 130,000 customers were without electricity Sunday morning, including tens of thousands in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, as utilities dealt with trees and power lines brought down by strong winds. :chatgpt-content-reference{index=”1″}
The storm turned deadly Saturday afternoon in Brooklyn.
A New York City Housing Authority employee was struck by a falling tree while walking through a parking lot near a housing complex in East New York. Police identified him as 56-year-old Leighton Brown. He was taken to Brookdale Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. :chatgpt-content-reference{index=”2″}
Four other people suffered minor injuries in another falling-tree incident in Brooklyn, according to city emergency officials. :chatgpt-content-reference{index=”3″}
The storm’s most persistent danger Sunday remained along the coastline, where wind-driven water combined with unusually high tides to flood roads, parking areas, homes and businesses.
The National Weather Service maintained coastal flood warnings in parts of New York and New Jersey, including vulnerable areas around Manhattan and Staten Island, where forecasters warned of two to three feet of inundation above ground level near waterfronts and shorelines. :chatgpt-content-reference{index=”4″}
On eastern Long Island, forecasters warned of two to 2½ feet of inundation in vulnerable coastal areas Sunday. :chatgpt-content-reference{index=”5″}
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul urged residents to stay away from the dangerous surf.
“Anyone who goes in or near the water this weekend is literally gambling with their life,” Hochul said.
Despite those warnings, some people in New York and New Jersey ventured into flooded streets in kayaks, while others traveled to beaches to surf the larger-than-normal waves.
Emergency responders in Sea Bright, New Jersey, rescued a woman and her dog after their vehicle became stranded in floodwater.
Farther south along the Jersey Shore, the storm pushed water into a marina owned by Kenny Formica in Surf City, an occurrence he described as rare. The last comparable flooding he remembered at the property came during Hurricane Sandy in 2012, when he said his business sustained more than $4 million in damage.
Formica and his employees had tried to prepare before the nor’easter arrived, securing dock lines, removing loose equipment and moving trucks and forklifts to the highest ground available.
By early Saturday, customers were contacting him about missing boats and personal watercraft. One customer sent video around 4 a.m. showing that a 25-foot boat had been blown from its lift.
The storm produced dangerous marine conditions offshore as well. The National Weather Service forecast seas of eight to 11 feet Sunday morning off portions of the New Jersey coast, with gale-force winds and gusts reaching as high as 50 knots in some marine zones. :chatgpt-content-reference{index=”6″}
Farther north, Southern New England experienced damaging winds, heavy rain and coastal erosion.
By Sunday afternoon, the National Weather Service office serving Boston said the strongest winds had passed Massachusetts and Rhode Island and canceled high-wind warnings and wind advisories for eastern parts of both states. Windswept rain, minor coastal flooding, beach erosion and localized street flooding were still expected into Monday. :chatgpt-content-reference{index=”7″}
Earlier forecasts had called for storm rainfall totals of two to four inches across portions of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, with isolated amounts potentially reaching five to seven inches. :chatgpt-content-reference{index=”8″}
Bob Oravec, a lead forecaster with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland, said the storm’s prolonged nature was central to the danger.
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.
He said nor’easters are a familiar part of the transition into fall in New England, although “this might be a little earlier than average for a big storm.”
The system’s slow movement also meant beaches were exposed to strong wind and waves for a longer period, increasing erosion.
“The most impactful parts of the storm are likely going to be the high winds and the tidal flooding,” Oravec said Sunday as the storm lingered south of Long Island and east of northern New Jersey. :chatgpt-content-reference{index=”9″}
The Federal Emergency Management Agency placed response coordination centers serving affected regions at an “enhanced posture,” with teams prepared in New England in case widespread electrical outages required additional assistance. :chatgpt-content-reference{index=”10″}
Flooding extended well south of the Northeast’s major population centers.
In Norfolk, Virginia, water covered streets as vehicles pushed wakes past homes.
Ellie Hodge watched the flooding from her front stoop after days of isolated high water in the coastal city.
“We’ve seen cars get stuck on the road, going up the sidewalks,” Hodge said. “It’s been pretty bad this time around.”
The effects became even more severe along North Carolina’s Outer Banks, where ocean overwash and erosion damaged N.C. Highway 12 and cut normal road access to Hatteras Island.
Dare County declared a state of emergency for Hatteras Island after the highway was closed between the Marc Basnight Bridge and Rodanthe. County officials restricted entry while the North Carolina Department of Transportation assessed the damage and began work toward establishing temporary access. :chatgpt-content-reference{index=”11″}
By Sunday morning, the state had activated emergency ferry service between Stumpy Point on the mainland and Rodanthe on Hatteras Island. The ferries were carrying vehicles and walk-on passengers, although officials warned of limited capacity and substantial delays. Entry to the island remained restricted to designated priority groups while people already there were permitted to leave. :chatgpt-content-reference{index=”12″}
The National Weather Service continued to warn Sunday of dangerous rip currents, large breaking waves, debris in the surf and up to one to two feet of coastal inundation in low-lying areas of Hatteras Island. :chatgpt-content-reference{index=”13″}
“To folks on Hatteras, you are not on an island all alone,” North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein said on social media. “North Carolina and county emergency responders are working hard to keep you safe and reconnected as quickly as possible.”
The highway closure created an unexpected crisis for Virginia couple Jayden Sink and Kimberly Laprad, who had reached Hatteras Island before conditions severed the road connection.
Most of the approximately 45 guests invited to their wedding could not get to the ceremony.
Local residents responded by transforming the disruption into a much larger celebration. Frisco Woods Campground provided a new location, cabins and an officiant, while a volunteer DJ provided music. By Saturday, more than 400 residents, stranded visitors and others had gathered to watch the couple marry and join the reception, according to the Island Free Press. :chatgpt-content-reference{index=”14″}
Air travelers faced widespread disruptions farther north.
Hundreds of flights were canceled at Boston Logan International Airport Saturday as high winds and rain struck Massachusetts. FlightAware data cited by the Boston Globe showed 253 cancellations at Logan by late Saturday morning, including 115 Cape Air flights and 95 operated by Delta Air Lines.
Nantucket Memorial Airport recorded 66 cancellations and Martha’s Vineyard Airport recorded 44 at that point Saturday. :chatgpt-content-reference{index=”15″}
Travel disruptions continued Sunday, with Boston reporting lengthy delays and New York-area airports experiencing weather-related problems. :chatgpt-content-reference{index=”16″}
Transportation on the water was also interrupted.
On Long Island, ferry operator Stephanie Sherman suspended service between Patchogue and Fire Island as the storm churned offshore.
“It’s been a pretty wild storm,” Sherman said. “But nothing that we haven’t experienced in the past. These happen every so often.”
The combination of persistent onshore winds, rough surf and high astronomical tides made the nor’easter particularly disruptive despite its timing outside the heart of winter.
Forecasters expected conditions to gradually improve from south to north Monday as the system finally began moving away, but coastal flooding and difficult travel could continue around high tide before a more substantial improvement Tuesday. :chatgpt-content-reference{index=”17″}
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