A powerful nor’easter pushed storm weather into coastal New Jersey on Saturday, flooding roads and some homes while more than 70,000 customers across the U.S. Northeast were without electricity. The storm was already making itself felt in low-lying communities, and forecasters said the worst coastal flooding could still be ahead.
That is why people across the Mid-Atlantic Coast were watching this system closely on a weekend when dangerous weather was already disrupting daily life. The National Weather Service said major coastal flooding was expected over multiple high tide cycles through the weekend, with roads underwater and impacts to homes and businesses in low-lying areas near the shore.
In Surf City, water flooded the streets and reached some homes. In Manasquan, some roads were also flooding, and Mayor Mike Mangan said he expected “a lot of water in the streets for a long time.” Officials had already issued a voluntary evacuation in some low-lying parts of town, a sign of how quickly the water was becoming a problem.
Sea Bright was preparing for winds up to 50 mph and flooding that could reach 6 feet on some streets, according to Brian Kelly, who said the town would open its recreation center for evacuees. Officials there expected flooding to start Saturday and worsen by midday. Kelly said he feared the town could be looking at flooding closer to an Irene-scale event, a striking warning in a region where nor’easters are not unusual as fall settles in.
The storm’s reach was broader than the flooded streets. Concerts were canceled on Friday and Saturday, dozens of flights into Boston, Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard were called off, and several airlines waived some change or cancellation fees for some East Coast flights through the weekend. Along the coast, peak wind gusts could approach 60 to 65 mph on Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, while gusts around Boston were expected to be about 50 to 55 mph.
That coastal edge matters because the storm’s punch was expected to fade inland. Matthew Belk said the closer people are to the coast, the more impacts they are likely to see, and forecasters said winds farther inland would be lower. Still, the storm could down tree limbs and power lines in southeastern Connecticut and eastern Long Island, New York, where gusts could get almost as high as the hardest-hit shoreline areas.
The immediate question is not whether the storm will cause more disruption, but how much worse the flooding will get before the weekend ends. With major coastal flooding expected through several high tide cycles, the hardest-hit towns along the shore are bracing for the next surge, not the last one.
