BOSTON (AP) — A slow-moving, powerful storm crept along the coast of the U.S. Northeast on Saturday, producing high winds that caused power outages while whipping up big waves and heavy rains that created dangerous conditions.
The New York City Housing Authority said one of its employees was killed by a fallen tree in Brooklyn, as the storm pelted the city with rain and strong winds. Emergency crews in mid-Atlantic and New England states raced to restore power after downed trees contributed to outages for about 100,000 customers in the region.
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Tens of millions of people remained in the path of the nor'easter for Sunday, with major flooding forecast for some coastal areas. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said response coordination centers in impacted regions were operating at an “enhanced posture,” and teams were on standby in New England in case of widespread outages.
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.
The highest tides were likely to occur north of Atlantic City, New Jersey, from Saturday night into Sunday, creating the potential for widespread road flooding in coastal and bayside communities, the National Weather Service said.
“Anyone who goes in or near the water this weekend is literally gambling with their life,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said.
In New Jersey and New York, some people kayaked down flooded streets. Others headed to beaches to try to surf the higher-than-usual waves. Emergency crews in Sea Bright, New Jersey, rescued a woman and her dog after their vehicle became trapped in floodwaters, ABC7 reported.
In the coastal New Jersey borough of Surf City, Kenny Formica sat at 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 in 2012, which he said caused more than $4 million in damage to his business.
Ahead of the storm, 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.
Formica said he awoke to messages from customers reporting missing boats and Jet Skis. One customer sent him a video around 4 a.m. showing his 25-foot (7.6-meter) boat after it had blown off its lift.
Farther south, in Norfolk, Virginia, Ellie Hodge watched from her front stoop as passing vehicles left wakes. The coastal city saw 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.
Farther south, a flooding-related highway closure on North Carolina’s Hatteras Island scrambled Jayden Sink and Kimberly Laprad’s wedding plans. The Virginia couple 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.
The road to the island remained closed, and a ferry also was out of service, leaving boat travel through bad weather as the only option, said Drew Pearson, emergency management director for North Carolina’s Dare County. The island has a year-round population of about 5,000 that swells much higher in warm weather, he said.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation said it would soon begin emergency ferry service between Hatteras Island and the mainland.
“To folks on Hatteras, you are not on an island all alone,” 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.”
Nor’easters are not unusual as New England moves into the fall season, but “this might be a little earlier than average for a big storm,” said Oravec, of the National Weather Service.
The storm’s slow movement could worsen beach erosion by subjecting the coast to a prolonged period of strong winds and waves, he said.
Hochul said coastal flooding was the biggest threat, but heavy rains, powerful winds and waves as high as 20 feet (6 meters) were also expected.
In Long Island, ferry owner Stephanie Sherman 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.”
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Lieb reported from Jefferson City, Missouri. Associated Press writers Allen G. Breed in Norfolk, Virginia; Kim Chandler in Montgomery, Alabama; Annika Hammerschlag in Seattle; Sarah Rankin in Richmond, Virginia; and Hannah Schoenbaum in Midway, Utah, contributed.
