One dead as nor’easter hammers East Coast with more flooding and wind

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The East Coast is bracing for more rain Sunday as a deadly nor’easter storm continues to wreak havoc on the region for a third day.

Hazardous conditions spread across the U.S. Northeast on Saturday as the formidable, slow-moving storm lashed the coastline with intense gales, torrential rainfall, and rough surf that knocked out power across the region.

A municipal worker for the New York City Housing Authority was killed in Brooklyn when a tree collapsed amid fierce gusts and heavy downpours. Across New England and the mid-Atlantic, emergency personnel worked to clear fallen timber and restore electricity after blackouts affected approximately 100,000 households and businesses.

Tens of millions of residents throughout the region remained under severe weather threats into Sunday, with significant coastal inundation expected. The Federal Emergency Management Agency confirmed that regional response coordination hubs were operating at an "enhanced posture," while specialized assistance teams were on standby in New England to manage potential widespread utility failures.

Meteorologists warned that conditions would not improve immediately. 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.

Peak tidal surges were expected to hit shorelines north of Atlantic City, New Jersey, from Saturday evening into Sunday, threatening widespread inundation of roadways in bayfront and coastal neighborhoods, 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.

Residents in parts of New York and New Jersey navigated submerged roads by kayak, while adventurous surfers targeted unusually large ocean swells. In Sea Bright, New Jersey, first responders extracted a woman and her dog after their vehicle became trapped in floodwaters, ABC7 reported.

Inside the coastal New Jersey borough of Surf City, Kenny Formica monitored security cameras from his home, watching floodwaters seep into the marina he owns. Water breaching the building is an exceptional event, Formica explained, noting the last occurrence was during Hurricane Sandy in 2012, which he said caused more than $4 million in damage to his business.

Prior to the storm's arrival, marina staff fastened dock lines, relocated loose gear out of harm’s way, and staged company trucks and forklifts on the highest ground available.

Upon waking, Formica found messages from boat owners reporting displaced vessels and watercraft. A customer forwarded video footage captured 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 observed from her front porch as driving traffic generated wakes along flooded streets. 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."

Travel itineraries across the region were upended. 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.

Along the North Carolina coast, a flooding-related highway closure on Hatteras Island disrupted 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.

With the primary roadway shut down and local ferry service also out of service, boat travel through bad weather remained 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.

On 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."