Powerful nor'easter causes coastal flooding and knocks out power to parts of the northeast US
BOSTON (AP) — 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.
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 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 (7.6-meter) 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.
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.
Nor’easters are not unusual as New England moves into fall, 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.
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 (six meters).
“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.”
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Lieb reported from Jefferson City, Missouri. Associated Press writers Allen G. Breed in Norfolk, Virginia; Kim Chandler in Montgomery, Alabama; and Annika Hammerschlag in Seattle contributed.
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