BOSTON, Sep 27 – A powerful nor’easter continued to batter the northeastern United States on Sunday, sending seawater into coastal neighborhoods, knocking out electricity for tens of thousands of customers and disrupting air travel from New Jersey to New England.
The slow-moving storm brought another round of flooding to communities that had already been hit the previous day. Strong winds pushed trees onto homes and utility lines on New York’s Long Island, while repeated high tides sent water into low-lying areas along the New Jersey coast.
In Sea Bright, New Jersey, residents watched the water return with each high tide. Caroline Virenius said her garage filled with roughly a foot of water, or about 30 centimeters, as flooding repeatedly spread through the neighborhood.
“It’s not like a one-time occurrence,” Virenius said. “It’s getting wet again and again.”
The storm had already turned deadly in New York City on Saturday, when a falling tree killed a New York City Housing Authority worker. By Sunday, officials were still warning residents about heavy rain, strong winds and dangerous surf as the system continued moving slowly along the coast.
Some areas of New Jersey had received more than 4 inches of rain since Friday. The combination of that rainfall and elevated ocean water produced flooding that residents in some coastal communities described as the worst they had experienced in years.
The National Weather Service said the storm was expected to gradually weaken Sunday night, although periods of heavy rain could continue across parts of New England and the mid-Atlantic. Officials in New Jersey and New York also warned that another high tide late Monday could create additional flooding concerns.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said another, weaker band of the storm could move through the area later Sunday, bringing additional rain and potentially worsening already difficult conditions.
Flooding, power outages and flight disruptions spread across the region
Flooding remained the most immediate concern as the storm continued to affect coastal communities. Bob Oravec, a lead forecaster with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland, said tidal flooding was expected to persist through successive high-tide cycles Sunday night even as the storm itself began to weaken.
In New York City, several inches of water covered streets in the Howard Beach neighborhood. Despite the flooding, some residents still ventured outside Sunday morning, including people heading out for coffee.
Farther south in New Jersey, the situation was particularly difficult in communities accustomed to dealing with high water. Carole Ann Palmer, owner of Jingles Bait and Tackle in North Beach Haven, said she had not seen flooding this severe in about a decade.
Palmer said water continued rising around her business on Saturday, eventually sweeping away the front step. She also saw neighbors using kayaks to move through flooded streets.
By Sunday, her attention had shifted to a much smaller but complicated problem. Palmer said she had to put on waders and carry her two puppies to dry ground so they could go outside.
She described the routine as physically exhausting, carrying one puppy across the street, returning to dry it off and then repeating the process with the other.
The storm also caused widespread power outages across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic. More than 100,000 customers were without electricity at various points Sunday, according to PowerOutage.us. The largest concentrations of outages were reported in coastal counties stretching from New Jersey toward Connecticut.
Travel was also heavily affected. Airports along the East Coast reported numerous cancellations and delays as strong winds and heavy rain disrupted operations.
At Boston Logan International Airport, more than 250 flights had been canceled by late Sunday morning, according to the Massachusetts Port Authority. Wind gusts at the airport reached about 40 mph, or 64 kph, adding to the challenges for airlines and passengers.
The storm also revived memories of Superstorm Sandy, which devastated parts of the eastern United States in 2012 and caused more than $60 billion in damage. The current nor’easter was not expected to approach Sandy’s overall scale, but its repeated flooding and coastal impacts raised concerns among residents who experienced that disaster.
The weather pattern has also drawn attention to the possibility of additional coastal storms during the fall. An El Niño climate pattern is influencing weather conditions this year, potentially contributing to unusual storm activity along the East Coast.
Waves crashing over sea walls and onto beaches provided a visible reminder of the storm’s force. Beyond immediate flooding, the powerful surf also raised concerns about coastal erosion in exposed communities.
New Jersey residents rely on Sandy-era protections as water returns
For residents of communities heavily damaged by Sandy, Sunday’s flooding was a reminder of how vulnerable low-lying coastal neighborhoods remain even after years of preparation.
In Sea Bright, Bernard Dowd waded through tidal water to reach his home Sunday, one day after returning from work to discover that his basement had filled with water.
Dowd said conditions could have been considerably worse without changes made after Sandy. New rules introduced in the aftermath of the 2012 storm required many homeowners to raise their houses, helping reduce the potential for severe damage from future flooding.
Residents and business owners have also adopted other measures to protect their properties. Dowd noticed that many people in his neighborhood had placed sandbags around homes and businesses as the nor’easter approached.
He acknowledged that he had not taken the same precaution, saying he had initially believed warnings about the storm might be exaggerated.
The experience served as another reminder that repeated coastal flooding can quickly become more serious as rain, wind and high tides occur at the same time.
In Sea Bright and other New Jersey communities, the biggest concern Sunday was not necessarily a single dramatic surge, but the repeated return of water with each high tide. Streets and properties that had begun to drain could be flooded again hours later.
Forecasters expected conditions to gradually improve overnight Sunday as the storm weakened. However, officials continued urging residents in vulnerable areas to monitor local warnings because another high tide was expected Monday.
For coastal communities from New Jersey through New York and into New England, the nor’easter had already delivered a prolonged combination of rain, wind and rising seawater. Even as the system lost strength, residents faced the prospect of another round of flooding before conditions fully settled.