Severe Nor'easter Batters US Northeast with Historic Flooding and Widespread Power Outages

A powerful nor'easter storm continued to pummel the shoreline in the northeastern United States for a second consecutive day, triggering severe flooding in low-lying areas and leaving tens of thousands of homes without power.

On Sunday, tidal surges inundated coastal neighbourhoods in New Jersey, while strong wind gusts toppled trees across New York’s Long Island, damaging properties and bringing down utility poles. In New York City, streets within the Howard Beach neighbourhood of Queens were submerged under water.

The slow-moving severe weather system—which tragically claimed the life of a New York City housing authority worker on Saturday after a tree fell—was forecasted to persist through Sunday. Heavy rainfall, intense winds, and dangerous surf are expected to stretch all the way to New England.

Residents reported that extreme rainfall, exceeding 10cm (4 inches) since Friday in parts of New Jersey, combined with surging ocean waters to produce flooding levels not witnessed in nearly a decade.

The storm has evoked memories of Hurricane Sandy, which caused over $60bn in damage throughout the eastern US in 2012. Although this current weather event has not reached that scale, meteorologists warn it may be the first of multiple storms hitting the East Coast this fall due to an El Nino climate pattern.

Data from PowerOutage.us indicated that more than 100,000 customers experienced power outages across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic on Sunday, with the most severe disruptions concentrated in coastal counties stretching from New Jersey to Connecticut.

Transportation was also heavily disrupted, resulting in numerous flight cancellations and delays along the coast. The Massachusetts Port Authority reported that over 250 flights had been cancelled at Boston Logan International airport by late Sunday morning as wind gusts peaked at 64km/hour (40 mph).

Bob Oravec, a lead forecaster with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland, noted that while the storm is gradually losing strength, tidal flooding is expected to persist through high-tide cycles on Sunday night, affecting areas from northern New Jersey into southern New England.