Tens of millions of residents from the mid-Atlantic to Maine faced dangerous coastal flooding, torrential rain, and winds on Saturday as a rare, early-season nor’easter struck the East Coast, closing roads, disrupting flights, and canceling major weekend events.
Emergency Declarations and Coastal Flooding Swamp Atlantic City and the Jersey Shore
The storm struck earlier than the typical October through May storm season, packing wind gusts that reached 74 miles per hour late Friday night at a weather station in Surf City, New Jersey. Other stations along the Jersey Shore recorded gusts of 60 mph or more, while buoys off the coast and southern New England reported waves of 16 feet or more. In Atlantic City, lifelong resident Talia Manno opened her front door Saturday morning to find floodwaters halfway up her steps.
“It got up to my fifth step,” Manno said. “I was really freaking out.”
Talia Manno, Atlantic City resident, via NPR
Manno said the last time water reached that level was during Hurricane Sandy. Even if you live here and you see high tide and flooding, that was really scary and it happened so fast,
she said. States of emergency were declared in counties across New Jersey and New York, including in New York City. On Saturday, social media posts featured footage of flooded New Jersey streets alongside powerful waves crashing against the shoreline. In New York City, people were seen kayaking in the streets.
High Tides Threaten New York and Long Island as Governor Warns Residents
Having previously declared a state of emergency, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul informed reporters on Saturday morning that additional heavy rainfall was on the way and urged local populations to exercise caution. She noted that waves as tall as 20 feet were expected in some areas, with wind gusts exceeding 50, even 60 miles an hour already recorded on Long Island.
“Here’s the bottom line: Stay out of the water. Although we just saw a surfer on one of the cameras off the coast of Long Island, stay out of the water,” she said.
Kathy Hochul, New York Governor, via ABC News
The governor added that anyone who goes in or near the water was gambling with their life. Strong winds also toppled trees in New York City, with some landing on top of parked cars. Subways and trains have been operating as expected so far, according to the governor. Hochul mentioned that storm barriers were installed at the Howard Beach and Coney Island rail yards to minimize potential service disruptions.
Nantucket Weddings Face Worst-Case Scenario Amid Severe Transport Disruptions
The National Weather Service placed Nantucket under a high wind warning and a high surf advisory around 7.30pm Friday as rainfall strengthened, while a coastal flood warning is also in place for the island through Monday night. Boston couple Maggie Lynch, 29, and Paul Flanagan, 28, whose wedding with 165 guests is scheduled for Saturday, called the weather forecast the ‘worst-case scenario.’ Lynch told MassLive that when they picked Nantucket, they joked that as long as this exact thing didn’t happen, they’d be fine, and then, of course, it did. Flanagan noted that their sole major worry had been a severe enough storm to prevent guests from reaching the island, an issue that seemed to materialize as the nor’easter arrived. Wedding planner Karina Crockett said the couple started voicing their concerns on Monday, after which the focus turned to making sure that as many wedding guests as possible got to Nantucket early through a very rocky two-and-a-half-hour boat ride from Hyannis, on the southern coast of Cape Cod.
Forecasters Warn of an Extended Duration Unlike Typical Coastal Storms
Francis Tarasiewicz, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Massachusetts, pointed out that wind gusts along the coast could reach up to 60 miles per hour this weekend, and that this nor’easter comes earlier than the typical October through May storm season and will last longer than normal.
“Many nor’easters affect the area over the course of about a day,” he said. “It’s a quick punch of strong winds, in many cases, heavy snow or rain.” But, Tarasiewicz said, “with this one, we’re looking at about a 48-hour period of winds greater than 35 to 40 miles per hour across the area.”
Francis Tarasiewicz, National Weather Service meteorologist in Massachusetts, via NPR
According to the NWS, the storm is projected to persist through Sunday across the Jersey Shore, New York City, and Eastern Massachusetts. Based on data from the PowerOutage.com map on Saturday evening, roughly 80,000 customers lacked electricity throughout New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.