Rare September Nor’easter Lashes NY, NJ Coast
A powerful, unusually early nor’easter battered the New York and New Jersey region over the weekend, knocking out power to nearly 150,000 households, flooding coastal and low-lying communities, and killing at least one person. The storm brought two days of heavy rain and strong winds from North Carolina to Maine, with forecasters warning that repeated high tides could worsen the flooding into early this week.
According to Gothamist/WNYC, tens of thousands of people were without power across the New York City region on Sunday morning, while parts of the Jersey Shore saw their worst flooding since Hurricane Sandy in 2012. The Guardian reported that nearly 150,000 households had lost electricity from North Carolina to New England.
The National Weather Service said coastal flooding remained the storm’s most pressing threat, with moderate flooding expected during high tides throughout the region and major flooding of up to three feet forecast for bayside communities on southern Long Island.
An Exceptionally Rare Storm
The meteorological record makes this storm a rarity. Nor’easters typically strike in late fall and winter, but meteorologists noted that a non-tropical nor’easter forming in September accounts for only about 1 percent of all nor’easters on record. Meteorologist Max Schuster, host of the Max Velocity – Severe Weather Center, said the last comparable September nor’easter to affect the Northeast may have occurred around 1940, according to Wikipedia’s summary of the event.
The system originated from an upper-level low as a frontal low-pressure system on September 23, meandering erratically off the U.S. East Coast before reaching peak intensity with a minimum central pressure of 986 hPa on the morning of September 26. Forecasters drew comparisons to Hurricane Sandy and Hurricane Irene because of the scale of expected coastal flooding—a resonant reference in a region still shaped by Sandy’s catastrophic damage more than a decade earlier.
Power Outages and a Fatal Loss
By Sunday morning, utilities were contending with outages across several states. Con Edison reported about 3,000 customers without power across New York City and Westchester County, most in Staten Island and Queens, while Jersey Central Power & Light reported more than 45,000 customers out and PSE&G reported 19,000 on Long Island. More than 100,000 customers had lost power across Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut, and the Guardian put the regional figure at nearly 150,000.
The storm also claimed a life. Leighton Brown, a 56-year-old New York City Housing Authority employee, was struck and killed by a falling tree in East New York, Brooklyn, on Saturday afternoon. It was not immediately clear whether wind caused the tree to fall, but the Parks Department said it had been responding to hundreds of fallen-tree reports since Friday.
“My thoughts are with his entire family as they deal with this unimaginable loss,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said, according to Gothamist. “May he rest in peace, and may his service to our city never be forgotten.” The city, he said, was “mourning the loss of one of our own.”
Flooding and Erosion Along the Coast
The Jersey Shore bore the brunt of the coastal flooding. A high tide on September 26 pushed water levels in Atlantic City to their highest point since Hurricane Sandy, and News 12 New Jersey reported that roads in Long Beach Island were covered by water during high tide. Storm surge reached 3.54 feet in Kings Park, New York, and two people abandoned their vehicles amid rising floodwaters in Elmhurst, Queens.
Gov. Mikie Sherrill said Sunday morning that severe dune loss had been reported in Brigantine and Atlantic City, and that Surf City recorded winds of 74 mph. She warned that another high tide Sunday night and a high tide around 9 a.m. Monday could bring additional flooding.
“I want to repeat: do not drive in closed or flooded roadways,” Sherrill said. “We will start fixing what we can and submit an application for federal assistance if appropriate,” she added, noting that the state Department of Environmental Protection would assess beach damage when conditions allowed.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who declared a state of emergency for New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County, offered a blunt warning on Saturday: “Don’t take this lightly. Don’t tempt Mother Nature.” Sherrill’s emergency declaration covered eight New Jersey counties. New York Attorney General Letitia James issued a consumer alert warning residents to watch for price gouging during the storm.
Travel Disrupted Across the Region
The storm upended travel and weekend plans across the Northeast. According to CBS 6 Albany, more than 400 flights were canceled, and FlightAware reported more than 3,000 U.S. delays. Newark Liberty International Airport saw 110 delays and nine cancellations on Sunday morning, with average delays of about 30 minutes.
All Amtrak service between New York City and Boston was suspended. The Long Island Rail Road’s Long Beach branch was suspended between Valley Stream and Long Beach because of flooding near Island Park, with shuttle buses replacing trains. New York Waterway and Seastreak canceled ferry service on Sunday.
The storm also scrambled the region’s cultural calendar. The Global Citizen Festival in Central Park and the All Things Go NYC Music Festival at Forest Hills Stadium were canceled, and an AC/DC concert at MetLife Stadium was called off and rescheduled for October 2.
There was one piece of good news: a swimmer feared lost off Robert Moses State Park on Fire Island was found “alive and well” on Sunday after contacting police.
What to Watch Next
Forecasters expect the system to linger, with Monday shaping up to be “dreary—overcast with some light rain or mist,” in the words of National Weather Service meteorologist Dominic Ramunni, followed by sunnier skies and warmer temperatures returning Tuesday. As utilities work to restore power and crews clear hundreds of downed trees, officials warned that the repeated high-tide cycle will determine how much more flooding the region absorbs before the storm finally moves on. The full scope of beach erosion and property damage along the Jersey Shore may not be known for days.