▶ Watch Video: Watch: Videos show aftermath of nor’easter as streets flooded, events cancelled
Remnants of a powerful nor’easter continued to hit parts of the U.S. East Coast early Monday after bringing a fierce combination of heavy rain, strong winds and dangerous waves to multiple states in its path over the weekend.
In coastal sections of New York and New Jersey, the storm triggered such intense flooding that residents were seen paddling through their neighborhoods on kayaks and canoes, past parked cars that had become partially or nearly submerged in water.
Flood warnings and watches remained in effect for parts of the New York metropolitan area into Monday afternoon and a flood watch was posted for all of eastern Massachusetts through Tuesday morning.
The nor’easter has caused at least one death, in Brooklyn, New York, where officials said 56-year-old New York City Housing Department employee Leighton Brown was hit by a falling tree. A swimmer thought to be missing on Saturday afternoon was later found “alive and well,” state police said. They believed he’d disappeared after he was seen swimming off a beach at the Long Island south shore community of Fire Island, but he contacted police himself after learning of their search for him through news coverage.
Flooding was reported in parts of New Jersey, including Long Beach Island, Surf City and Rumson, where Carolyn Cashion spotted a fox swimming in floodwater.
Some 21,000 homes and businesses in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts remained without power early Monday, according to the utility tracker PowerOutage.us.
Both New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill declared states of emergency for certain regions.
In its latest forecast, the National Weather Service warned that the nor’easter was expected to dump more rain on mid-Atlantic and northeastern states through Monday night, potentially causing additional bouts of flooding. Rough surf, including rip currents, was also likely to imperil beachgoers as far south as the Carolinas, while wind gusts of up to 50 mph could tear through a block of the tristate area from New Jersey to Long Island, according to the forecast.
The New York Yankees canceled their final game of the season against the Baltimore Orioles, which was supposed to be played at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx on Sunday, due to the inclement weather.
At MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, where the New York Giants took on the Tennessee Titans in a week 3 NFL matchup, the strong winds sent several portable toilets sliding across the parking lot.
Swirling winds produced by the storm could knock out additional power lines and topple more trees, the weather service said, adding that excessive rainfall could potentially also cause some flooding in inland sections of New Jersey all the way up to New England. The agency said rain would primarily lead to localized flash flooding, with urban areas, roads, small streams and narrow canyons facing the greatest risks of inundation.
The New York City area could see another 1 or 2 inches of rain through Sunday night, while water levels along the shores of New Jersey and Delaware may swell as much as 12 feet, said CBS News meteorologist Andrew Kozak, adding that bands of heavy rain could persist in parts of Long Island and southern Connecticut, too.
Farther north, sections of New England, including Boston, would likely receive between 2 and 4 more inches of rain, although up to 7 inches was possible, he said.
Watching high tide
The weather service had urged people along the eastern seaboard to brace for major coastal damage as the nor’easter moved in, writing in an advisory that “repeated rounds of flooding” were expected throughout the weekend, especially around high tide.
“Prepare immediately for significant inundation in low-lying areas near the shore, including roads under water and impacts to homes and businesses,” the advisory read.
In Nantucket, Massachusetts, waves uncovered parts of a shipwreck along the island’s south shore on Saturday. The Nantucket Current reported that the wreck is likely part of a 19th-century wooden ship that wrecked near Miacomet Beach in 1884.
Just north of the island, footage taken in the coastal town of Marshfield shows sea foam around beachfront houses on Saturday.
The weather service said the storm would coincide with at least one more high tide cycle on Sunday. Kozak noted that the tide posed flooding threats to parts of coastal New York, like areas around Jamaica Bay, bordering the city’s Brooklyn and Queens boroughs, and those near lower New York Harbor. He also said New Jersey and Delaware could see moderate tidal flooding, which should ease as the nor’easter weakens.
Dozens of river, creek, stream and coastal flooding incidents, as well as damaging wind incidents, were reported from North Carolina to New York between Friday and Saturday, according to the weather service. As of Saturday, the strongest wind gusts were recorded in Surf City, New Jersey, and Montauk Point, New York, where they respectively approached 74 and 81 mph — mirroring those of a low-grade hurricane.