Nor’easter Batters U.S. East Coast: Over 100,000 Lose Power as Flooding and Cancellations Spread
A powerful offshore nor’easter slammed into the U.S. East Coast on Saturday, September 26, knocking out power to more than 100,000 homes and businesses at one point, grounding over 400 flights, and triggering dangerous coastal flooding from the Carolinas to New England. The governors of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut declared states of emergency or activated emergency operations centers ahead of the storm, and the National Weather Service warned of repeated flooding through Monday as the storm lingers offshore.
Nearly 30 million people were under wind advisories on Saturday and more than 30 million under coastal flooding advisories or warnings, according to the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center. The worst impacts were concentrated along the coast: New Jersey Shore towns saw streets underwater, parts of New York City faced flooding risk, and travel across the Northeast was thrown into disarray.
Power outages across four states
The storm knocked out electricity for more than 100,000 homes and businesses at one point on Saturday, Reuters reported, citing power-outage tracker PowerOutage.com. More than 88,000 customers remained without power in New Jersey, Connecticut, New York, and Pennsylvania as of 1:07 p.m. ET Saturday, down from a peak of over 119,000 earlier in the day.
Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York each had more than 25,000 utility customers without power shortly after 1 p.m. ET. PSEG Long Island said about 13,300 of its customers were out, and that it had already restored power to more than 34,600 customers affected by the storm since Friday morning. No casualty figures have been reported in any outlet.
States of emergency and official warnings
New York Governor Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency on Friday for Nassau, Suffolk, New York City, and Westchester counties. “We’re expecting dangerous coastal flooding, strong winds and potential power outages through the weekend. Take this storm seriously. Stay alert, and avoid unnecessary travel,” Hochul said, in comments reported by the New York Post.
New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill declared a state of emergency for eight counties on Friday night, and Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont activated the state’s Emergency Operations Center to coordinate the response. New York City’s Emergency Management Department warned that the worst was yet to come on Saturday night and advised residents in basements to move to a higher floor, according to the New York Post’s live coverage.
Travel disruption: 425 flights canceled, 1,300+ delayed
Around 425 flights involving U.S. airports were canceled and 1,338 delayed on Saturday, according to flight tracker FlightAware (Reuters). Nearly 180 flights were canceled Saturday morning at Boston Logan, Nantucket, and Martha’s Vineyard airports alone. The Federal Aviation Administration advised flyers to check with airlines about their flight status.
Ground travel was also affected: four bus lines in Queens were diverted due to storm fallout, and two Long Island Rail Road lines were partially suspended, per the New York Post.
Flooding amplified by the full moon
The National Weather Service said the strong nor’easter will bring coastal flooding, rip currents, strong wind gusts, and heavy rain to the Mid-Atlantic and New England through Monday. More than 40 gauges between North Carolina and Long Island were at moderate-to-major flood stage (USA Today).
The flooding was worsened by the full “harvest” moon and equinox king tides, which raised baseline water levels before the storm surge even arrived. “If we had no storm at all the tides would be higher than normal,” said Brian Hurley, a meteorologist with the Weather Prediction Center, adding that each high tide compounds the next: “Then it becomes a compounding problem.”
Critical high tides were expected between 8:15 p.m. and 9 p.m. Saturday night and again from 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. Sunday. Forecasters projected 3–6 inches of rain for New York City and 4–8 inch rain bands between Long Island and Boston, with wind gusts up to 60 mph and up to 80 mph along northern Long Island and Cape Cod.
Jersey Shore underwater, Long Island battered
Coastal communities in New Jersey were already flooded Saturday morning. Streets in Surf City on Long Beach Island were inundated, and high surf crashed over seawalls onto roads along the coast. Manasquan Mayor Mike Mangan said he expected “a lot of water in the streets for a long time,” and the town issued a voluntary evacuation warning as tides were expected to run 4 feet above normal.
On Long Island, roughly 11,000 customers in Suffolk County, 4,000 in Nassau County, and 4,000 in Queens lost power Saturday morning. Farther south, the storm’s big waves and high tides had begun arriving along the Outer Banks of North Carolina on Sept. 24, washing out a section of the coastal highway, and flooding extended into low-lying areas of Virginia on Sept. 25.
Canceled events across the region
The storm forced a wave of cancellations: Ed Sheeran’s two shows at Gillette Stadium (Friday and Saturday), the Global Citizens Festival in Central Park, the All Things Go Festival at Forest Hills Stadium, and shows by Alicia Keys and Lenny Kravitz were all called off. The Cubs vs. Red Sox MLB game was moved to Sunday at 3:05 p.m. at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.
What to watch next
The nor’easter is not expected to fully clear out until Monday evening. The Sunday morning high tide — forecast from 8:30 to 9 a.m. — will bring another round of coastal flooding, and forecasters say more downed trees and power outages are likely as the strongest winds sweep through Saturday night into Sunday. Watch for updated outage counts from the four affected states, further flight cancellations at East Coast airports, and damage assessments once the water recedes.
Related coverage on Sivonex: read about Hurricane Polo’s Category 5 threat to Mexico and the Bangkok flood disaster from earlier this month.
