Slow-Moving Nor’easter Floods Northeast Coast and Cuts Power to Thousands

A slow-moving nor’easter pounded the Northeast and mid-Atlantic for a second day on Sunday, flooding coastal neighborhoods, toppling trees and leaving more than 100,000 customers without power at times, according to Al Jazeera, citing PowerOutage.us. Officials said Sunday afternoon that the worst appeared to be over, but rain was expected to continue through Monday morning and the system was forecast to clear the area by Tuesday morning, CBS New York reported.

Wind gusts reached 74 mph in Surf City, New Jersey, and up to 60 mph at Montauk, New York, CBS New York reported. Toms River, New Jersey, recorded 3.75 inches of rain, Belmar 2.9 inches, Montauk 2.85 inches and Islip 2.28 inches, while Central Park received 1.68 inches, the station said. Al Jazeera, quoting forecaster Bob Oravec of the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland, said the storm was gradually weakening.

Coastal flooding hit Sea Bright, Long Branch, Monmouth Beach and Manasquan in New Jersey and Far Rockaway, Howard Beach, Freeport and Island Park in New York, CBS New York reported. Several New Jersey roads stayed closed Sunday as water receded slowly. Al Jazeera reported that residents said the flooding in Queens was the worst in close to a decade in areas used to high water. High tides were expected at 9 p.m. Sunday and 9 a.m. Monday, with more flooding possible, and a coastal flood warning covered Ocean County, New Jersey, until 2 p.m. Monday, CBS New York said.

Erosion was a concern. Atlantic City Beach Patrol officials said the storm caused the city’s worst beach erosion since Hurricane Sandy in 2012, cutting into dunes along a roughly half-mile stretch north of Steel Pier, CBS Philadelphia reported. The boardwalk was not damaged, the station said. The impact was far smaller than Sandy’s, which caused more than $60 billion in damage, Al Jazeera noted.

One person died. A New York City Housing Authority employee was killed Saturday when a tree fell on him in a parking lot in East New York, Brooklyn, CBS New York and WABC reported; WABC said it was not known whether wind caused the tree to fall, and that a falling tree injured at least four others, with minor injuries, at a Brooklyn playground.

Utilities were restoring service. Con Edison had restored 21,139 customers in New York City and Westchester County since Friday, with about 1,549 still out shortly before 1 p.m. Sunday, CBS New York reported. PSEG Long Island had restored more than 93,700 customers, with about 18,501 still out at noon, and New Jersey utilities had restored almost 180,000. PSEG Long Island reported more than 1,000 trees and 530 large branches down. New York City’s tree task force had logged 1,927 service requests by 5 p.m., including 815 for downed trees, the station said.

Travel was disrupted. More than 250 flights were canceled at Boston’s Logan International Airport by late Sunday morning, with gusts of 40 mph, according to the Massachusetts Port Authority as cited by Al Jazeera. LaGuardia Airport saw average delays of about two hours and 20 minutes and Newark had a ground stop until 2:15 p.m., CBS New York reported. The Long Island Rail Road suspended its Long Beach Branch service Sunday afternoon because of flooding near Island Park. New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill urged residents not to “drive through flooded roadways,” and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said, “it looks like the worst is over,” while cautioning that the storm was not finished.

Al Jazeera reported that the storm could be the first of several East Coast storms this fall because of an El Niño pattern affecting this year’s weather.