A powerful, slow-moving storm crept along the coast of the northeastern U.S. 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.
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.
In the coastal New Jersey borough of Surf City, water flooded the streets and inundated some homes.
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.
Swimming ducks spotted on flooded New Jersey streets
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 Edgewater, New Jersey, 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.
New Jersey communities prepare for major flooding
Videos verified by NBC News showed heavy tidal flooding Saturday at Shelter Marina in Beach Haven. In nearby Beach Haven Crest, ducks swam along flooded streets. A resident’s video from Spray Beach showed water covering a fire hydrant and entering garages.
Brian Kelly, the mayor of the tiny New Jersey beach community Sea Bright, said the borough is bracing for winds of up to 50 mph and flooding that could reach up to 6 feet on some streets. Officials expect the flooding to start Saturday and worsen by midday.
“It’s going to be worse than average. We do have probably one or two flooding events a year, sometimes more, sometimes less, but I think this one will be closer to an Irene-scale flooding event,” Kelly said, referencing the 2011 storm that caused major flooding in the Northeast. “I hope I’m wrong, but that’s my gut feeling.”
Kelly hopes hundreds of residents living in low-lying areas will consider evacuating. He said the town will open its recreation center for evacuees.
Damaging winds threaten coastal New England
Peak wind gusts could approach 60-65 mph on Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket in Massachusetts on Saturday, compared with about 50-55 mph around Boston and 35-40 mph farther inland, according to Matthew Belk, a meteorologist with the NWS in Norton, Massachusetts.
“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.
Belk said nor’easters are not unusual as New England moves into fall, but one concern this early in the season is that leaves remain on the trees, creating more wind resistance. That could increase the risk of downed limbs, which in turn can cause power outages and leave debris in roads, he said.
Along the Atlantic coasts of New Jersey and Delaware, wind gusts could reach 60 mph, according to the NWS. In southeastern Connecticut and on eastern Long Island, New York, gusts could be almost as strong, potentially downing tree limbs and power lines.
The storm scraps flights, concerts and sports events
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.
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 take place 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.
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.
Officials urge residents to use caution
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 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.
