Nor’easter brings heavy flooding, major power outages to the East Coast

A slow-moving, powerful storm crept along the coast of the U.S. Northeast on Saturday, producing high winds that knocked out electricity to thousands while whipping up big waves and heavy rains that created dangerous conditions in some places.

Tens of millions of people were in the path of the nor’easter, which was forecast to affect the mid-Atlantic area and New England throughout the weekend. Around 100,000 customers in the region were without electricity Saturday.

In Brooklyn, New York, a 56-year-old man was struck and killed by a falling tree, according to the New York City Police Department, the first confirmed fatality from the storm. The New York City Housing Authority later confirmed he was an employee of the agency. He was identified by Mayor Zohran Mamdani in a social media post as Leighton Brown. 

And in Egg Harbor Township in eastern New Jersey, nine adults and a dog were rescued from flooded motel rooms.   

The forecast showed no immediate reprieve. 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.,” said Bob Oravec, lead forecaster with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland.

Rainfall totals of 1 to 3 inches are expected from the Philadelphia region into eastern New Jersey, and portions of Long Island and southern New England could see 3 to 5 inches of rain. 

The nor’easter is rapidly intensifying and is expected to make a sharp turn back toward the New Jersey coast Saturday night into Sunday. It may stall or meander nearby through Monday, prolonging the rain, wind and coastal impacts before finally departing on Tuesday. 

Beach towns see severe flooding 

In Long Island, New York, some people kayaked down flooded streets.

In the coastal New Jersey borough of Surf City, Kenny Formica sat at his home watching surveillance cameras showing water rising inside the marina he owns. 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.

Formica said he woke Saturday to messages from customers reporting missing boats and Jet Skis. One customer sent him a video around 4 a.m. showing his 25-foot 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.

In Ocean City, Maryland, heavy surf caused beach erosion, washed out fencing by the dunes and was leading to flooding.

“In all the canals, the water is up really high and coming into people’s backyards,” Jay Boyd said by telephone.

Further south, Ellie Hodge stood on her front stoop in Norfolk, Virginia, on Saturday and watched as passing vehicles left wakes. The coastal city has seen isolated flooding all week because of the nor’easter.

“We’ve seen cars get stuck on the road, going up the sidewalks,” Hodge said. “It’s been pretty bad this time around.”

The storm forced a change of plans for many people. Hundreds of flights were canceled at Boston Logan International Airport, as were the vast majority of flights at the popular Massachusetts tourist destinations of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.

Wind gusts may cause damage, increase flooding 

The New Jersey and Delaware coasts could see wind gusts of about 60 miles per hour, though meteorologists have already seen reports of winds over 70 miles per hour. Inland, residents could see wind gusts of 40 to 50 mph. 

Eastern Long Island and southeastern New England could see gusts of 45 to 65 mph. 

Peak wind gusts for Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket could approach 60 to 65 miph on Friday night and Saturday, NWS meteorologist Matthew Belk said. 

Inland residents will see wind gusts of about 50 to 55 mph, Belk said. 

“It’s definitely going to be a case of the closer to the coast you are, the more impacts from the storm you’re likely to see,” Belk said. 

The early timing of the nor’easter in the season could lead to even more damaging effects. Because trees are still fully leafed, they will have more wind resistance, Belk said. That could increase the risk of downed limbs, which, combined with the saturated ground caused by heavy rain, could cause power outages, leave debris on roads and lead to other property damage. 

Strong winds could also push ocean waves over seawalls, creating flooding. Large waves and elevated water levels could also lead to beach erosion and sand dune breaches. 

On Massachusetts’ South Shore, the towns of Cohasset and Scituate were sitting right in the bullseye of the storm. While parts of the coastline are protected by seawalls, some of those seawalls are in the middle of repair projects or have seen those projects stall due to federal funding cuts. 

“So the waves hit the seawall and they go straight up about 60, 70, 80 feet, and the wind hits it from the northeast and every wave ends up hitting the house,” Kevin Gill, owner of an oceanfront Scituate home, told CBS News Boston on Thursday. 

Storm leads to event cancellations and travel disruptions 

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.

Ed Sheeran canceled his high-profile concerts Friday and Saturday at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Also canceled: an Ironman triathlon in New York and the three-day Oceans Calling Festival in Ocean City, Maryland, which had been promoted online as “a wave of music.”

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.

In New York City, the Global Citizens Festival and All Things Go NYC were canceled ahead of the storm. 

The nor’easter also caused hundreds of flight cancellations and delays. The flight-tracking service FlightAware reported 260 flight cancellations for Boston Logan International Airport as of early Saturday evening.

State officials along the East Coast urged people to use caution. 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 20 feet.

“The rain is underway and while it’s only half an inch or so thus far, mark my words: Much more is coming,” the governor said early Saturday.

In Long Island, ferry owner Stephanie Sherman said she had paused operations between Patchogue and the barrier island of Fire Island.

“It’s been a pretty wild storm,” Sherman said. “But nothing that we haven’t experienced in the past. These happen every so often.”