Nor’easter brings powerful winds, severe flooding to the East Coast

The powerful nor’easter making its way up the coast of New England led to tens of thousands of power outages and severe flooding on Saturday morning. 

Tens of millions of people are in the path of the storm, which has canceled flights, concerts and sporting events. Dangerous flooding is expected along the Mid-Atlantic coast, particularly near New Jersey and Delaware, according to the National Weather Service.

More than 70,000 customers were without electricity Saturday, and forecasters were warning of gale-force winds that could down trees. Heavy rain could lead to flooding that could put roads underwater, the NWS said.

In the beachfront borough of Manasquan, New Jersey, where some roads were also flooding, Mayor Mike Mangan said he expected “a lot of water in the streets for a long time.” A voluntary evacuation had been issued earlier in some low-lying areas of the community.

Further north, the residents of islands near Cape Cod, Massachusetts headed to the mainland to wait out the storm. Peak wind gusts could approach 60 to 65 mph on Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket on Friday night and Saturday, compared with about 50 to 55 mph farther inland, according to Matthew Belk, a meteorologist with NWS in Norton, Massachusetts.

“It’s definitely going to be a case of the closer to the coast you are, the more impacts from the storm you’re likely to see,” Belk said. 

Residents of some communities urged to evacuate

Some towns along the New Jersey shore were already getting battered by coastal flooding on Saturday morning. In Ship Bottom, roads were submerged. Some drivers attempted to push through the rising floodwaters, while some residents were grabbing what little they could and fleeing to higher ground on foot.

In Sea Bright, homeowners and businesses were preparing for the worst. However, Michael Cardelfe, owner of Donovan’s Reef Beach Bar, said his doors would stay open.

“We are like the local watering hub and Donovan’s Reef is the kind of place, when we have a storm, we get busier,” Cardelfe told CBS News.

In the coastal New Jersey borough of Surf City, rippling water was already flooding streets and inundating homes on Saturday morning.

Kelly, the mayor of Sea Bright, said the borough is bracing for winds up to 50 mph and flooding that could reach up to 6 feet on some streets. Officials expect the flooding to start Saturday and worsen by midday.

“It’s going to be worse than average. 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,” Kelly said, referencing the 2011 storm that caused major flooding in the Northeast. “I hope I’m wrong, but that’s my gut feeling.”

Kelly hopes hundreds of residents living in low-lying areas will consider evacuating. He said the town will open its recreation center for evacuees. “A lot of the homes are elevated, but obviously, you know, people can get trapped in their house temporarily,” he added. 

In the coastal New Jersey borough of Surf City, rippling water was already flooding streets and inundating homes on Saturday morning. 

The system was already kicking up high surf and causing beach erosion in Ocean City, New Jersey, where block after block was underwater.

On New York’s Long Island, a state of emergency was declared. Crews built a wall of sand along the beach to keep the rising tide away from homes.

“If the tide goes out, we don’t expect to have such bad flooding,” Robert Kennedy, mayor of the Long Island village of Freeport, told CBS News. “If the tide stays in, it could increase the flooding in the village.”

In Plymouth, Massachusetts, south of Boston, boaters were clearing out the harbor. “I just want people to take some extra precaution, plan ahead a little bit,” Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said in a Friday news conference.

On Massachusetts’ South Shore, the towns of Cohasset and Scituate sit right in the bullseye of the storm. While parts of the coastline are protected by seawalls, some of those seawalls are in the middle of repair projects or have seen those projects stall due to federal funding cuts.

Strong winds could push the ocean water over the seawalls, creating flooding.

“So the waves hit the seawall and they go straight up about 60, 70, 80 feet, and the wind hits it from the northeast and every wave ends up hitting the house,” Kevin Gill, owner of an oceanfront Scituate home, told CBS News Boston on Thursday.  

Peak wind gusts could approach 60 to 65 mph on Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket on Friday night and Saturday, compared with about 50 to 55 mph around Boston and 35 to 40 mph farther inland, according to Matthew Belk, a meteorologist with NWS in Norton, Massachusetts.

“It’s definitely going to be a case of the closer to the coast you are, the more impacts from the storm you’re likely to see,” Belk said.

Belk said nor’easters are not unusual as New England moves into fall, but one concern this early in the season is that leaves remain on the trees, creating more wind resistance. That could increase the risk of downed limbs, which in turn can cause power outages and leave debris in roads, he said.

Nor’easter cancels sporting events, concerts

As residents braced for the storm, the Boston Red Sox announced their weekend series against the Chicago Cubs would be adjusted. The team moved the Sunday afternoon game to Friday to create a split doubleheader. Separately, Ed Sheeran announced that his high-profile Friday and Saturday shows at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, would be canceled due to the storm.

Meanwhile, the public ferry service connecting Cape Cod with the islands of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard was experiencing widespread cancellations Friday due to strong winds and choppy water. Several flights to the islands were also canceled.

Over in Rhode Island, ferries were also canceled for Block Island. The disrupted ferry service was also expected to spill into Saturday.

For people who regularly travel to and from the islands, the possibility of getting stuck on one side or the other is “part of life,” said Sean Driscoll, a spokesperson for the Woods Hole, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority. Most people have backup plans in place for when boats are canceled.

“It’s a nuisance, but you know, we know what to do with this kind of stuff at this point,” he said. “This is not out of the realm of ordinary. Part of living in this region is just kind of knowing how to deal with this stuff.”