Thousands of people across the U.S. East Coast were without electricity late Friday as a fast-strengthening nor'easter drove heavy rain and strong winds into the region, flooding streets in several New Jersey shore towns and threatening much worse conditions through the weekend. The storm, which meteorologists expect to intensify as it tracks slowly along the coast, has already put tens of millions of residents in its path.
The National Weather Service said dangerous coastal flooding is the primary threat, particularly from northern New Jersey south through Delaware and along the Mid-Atlantic shoreline. Officials warned that the combination of onshore winds, a full moon and already-saturated ground could produce water levels well above what local residents are accustomed to handling, especially in low-lying neighborhoods, harbor towns and barrier communities that sit only feet above sea level.
In the small borough of Surf City, waves rippled across a flooded roadway and water pushed into some homes, inundating ground floors as the first bands of heavy rain arrived. Similar flooding was reported up the coast, where the storm's effects were building overnight.
About 34 miles north in Manasquan, where streets were also taking on water, Mayor Mike Mangan said he expected "a lot of water in the streets for a long time." A voluntary evacuation had already been issued earlier in the day for some of the community's lowest-lying areas, a common precaution ahead of major coastal storms. Mangan's assessment reflects the slow-moving nature of the system, which means floodwaters are likely to rise, linger and then drain slowly even after the heaviest rain ends.
The most detailed warning so far came from Sea Bright, a sliver of a beach community jutting into the Atlantic. Mayor Brian Kelly said the borough is bracing for sustained winds of up to 50 mph and storm surge that could push flood depths of up to 6 feet onto some streets. He said the flooding is expected to begin Saturday and then worsen by midday, which would put the worst conditions squarely in the middle of the weekend — the period when residents are most likely to be away from work and when cleanup crews would be slowed by the scale of damage.
Kelly compared the event to past storms and said this one does not appear to be typical for the town. "It's going to be worse than average," he said. "We do have probably one or two flooding events a year, sometimes more, sometimes less, but I think this one will be closer to an Irene-scale flooding event." He was referring to Hurricane Irene, the 2011 storm that caused widespread flooding across the Northeast and remains the benchmark many longtime New Jersey residents measure severe coastal flooding against.
Kelly said he hoped hundreds of residents living in low-lying parts of the borough would take advantage of the voluntary evacuation and leave early, rather than waiting for conditions to deteriorate. Residents who do stay were advised to be prepared for prolonged power loss, contaminated drinking water, blocked roads and emergency personnel being unable to reach neighborhoods cut off by water.
The storm was already rippling through the broader travel system. Dozens of flights scheduled to arrive at airports in Boston, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard were canceled on Friday and Saturday, and concert events across the region were called off. Several major carriers said they would waive change and cancellation fees on a range of East Coast flights through the weekend, an unusual accommodation designed to reduce the penalty for travelers forced to abandon trips at the last minute.
Utility crews were working overnight to restore power to the large numbers of customers knocked offline, though restoration in coastal areas is typically complicated by flooding, downed lines and access restrictions. The scale of the outages — reported in the tens of thousands and rising through the evening — serves as an early indicator of how much the storm will stress aging coastal infrastructure, particularly in communities where seawalls, dunes and drainage systems have already absorbed years of erosion and repeated minor storms.
Farther north, the storm's outer bands were already visible. In Gloucester, Mass., surf broke hard along the rocky coastline with the twin lighthouses of Thatcher Island visible offshore in the early stages of the nor'easter on Friday, Sept. 25. The line of heavy surf, combined with a powerful northeast wind, is a common harbinger of the storm surge to come.
Nor'easters are coastal storms that form when cold, dry air streaming down from the Canadian Arctic collides with warmer air over the warm Gulf Stream, creating a tightly wound low-pressure system offshore. The collision intensifies the storm and pulls it toward the coast, where its counterclockwise circulation drives wind and water from the northeast — a direction that forces seawater directly onto the New Jersey and Delaware shoreline. Because these storms stall and intensify over the coastal shelf, they can deliver extreme flooding over a long window of time.
Forecasters said conditions are expected to deteriorate further before the weekend is out, with the heaviest rain, strongest winds and highest water levels arriving Saturday and continuing into Sunday. Emergency managers urged residents in surge-prone areas to move vehicles and valuables to higher ground, charge phones and medical devices, and avoid driving through standing water, which can hidewashouts and downed lines beneath its surface.
The Associated Press reported that Kelly was continuing to coordinate with state and county officials, and that additional information — including evacuation routes and shelter arrangements — was expected from local authorities. The outcome will depend largely on how quickly Sea Bright, Manasquan, Surf City and other low-lying communities drain after the surge peaks.
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