A powerful nor’easter continued to affect the New York metropolitan region on Sunday, bringing coastal flooding, strong winds, beach erosion and widespread travel disruptions across New York, New Jersey and surrounding areas.
ABC7 New York reported that the centre of the storm moved onto the New Jersey shoreline as damaging conditions persisted across parts of the Tri-State area. Wind gusts exceeded 50 mph in some coastal communities, including Belmar, while many inland locations recorded gusts between 35 and 40 mph. The strongest winds coincided with the morning high tide along the Jersey Shore and Long Island, increasing the risk of coastal flooding and erosion.
Forecasters expected wind speeds to gradually decrease as the storm moved inland and weakened. Gusts that reached 40 to 50 mph during the morning were forecast to fall below 35 mph later in the day, allowing some wind advisories and high wind warnings to expire. However, saturated ground remained a concern because strong winds could still bring down trees in areas that had already received heavy rainfall.
Coastal flood warnings remained in effect through the afternoon, with the highest concern surrounding the morning high tide cycle. In the Rockaways, strong winds pushed water toward Jamaica Bay as tides rose. The National Weather Service warned that some locations around the bay could experience minor to moderate coastal flooding, with approximately 1.5 to 2.5 feet of inundation possible in vulnerable areas.
The storm also disrupted air travel. ABC7 reported 126 delays and four cancellations involving LaGuardia Airport as of Sunday morning. A ground stop was imposed earlier because of wind, while a ground delay programme attributed to low visibility was expected to continue through much of the day. Newark Liberty International Airport recorded 25 delays and five cancellations, while John F. Kennedy International Airport had 42 delays and six cancellations at the time of the update.
Power outages were also reported across the Northeast. According to outage figures cited by ABC7, more than 41,000 customers in New York were without electricity Sunday morning, along with more than 33,000 in Connecticut, about 13,000 in New Jersey and more than 10,000 in Massachusetts.
Conditions were expected to improve gradually, but the threat was not over. Additional rain bands were forecast to redevelop later Sunday and continue overnight. Several inches of rain had already fallen in parts of the region, and another one to two inches was considered possible where heavier bands developed. With the ground already saturated, additional rainfall could quickly cause urban flooding, poor-drainage flooding and rises on smaller streams.
ABC7 said showers and breezy weather were expected to continue into Monday as the storm slowly moved away, although winds and rainfall were not expected to be as intense as during the weekend. Rain chances were forecast to decrease by Tuesday, followed by calmer weather and temperatures rising into the 70s later in the week.
