Daijiworld Media Network - New York
New York, Sep 28: A powerful nor’easter battered the northeastern United States for a second consecutive day on Sunday, causing widespread flooding in low-lying coastal areas, damaging homes and knocking out power to tens of thousands of customers.
Tidal surges inundated low-lying neighbourhoods in New Jersey, while strong wind gusts toppled trees on New York’s Long Island, damaging homes and bringing down utility poles. In New York City, streets in the Howard Beach neighbourhood of Queens were also flooded.
The slow-moving storm, which claimed the life of a New York City housing authority worker on Saturday after a tree fell on the person, was expected to continue bringing heavy rain, strong winds and dangerous surf across the region through Sunday and into New England.
Some parts of New Jersey received more than 10 cm (4 inches) of rain since Friday. The combination of heavy rainfall and rising ocean levels resulted in flooding described by residents as the worst seen in nearly a decade in some areas accustomed to high water.
The storm has drawn comparisons with the impact of Hurricane Sandy, which caused more than $60 billion in damage across the eastern United States in 2012. However, the current storm's impact has been significantly smaller.
The weather system also raised concerns over coastal erosion, with images showing large waves crashing against sea walls and beaches.
More than 100,000 customers across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic were without electricity at various points on Sunday, according to PowerOutage.us. The most extensive outages were reported in coastal counties stretching from New Jersey to Connecticut.
The storm also disrupted air travel along the US East Coast. More than 250 flights had been cancelled at Boston Logan International Airport by late Sunday morning, while wind gusts reached 64 kmph (40 mph), according to the Massachusetts Port Authority.
The heaviest remaining rainfall was expected on Sunday from northern New Jersey through southern New England.
Although the storm was gradually weakening, tidal flooding was expected to continue through high-tide cycles on Sunday night, said Bob Oravec, a lead forecaster with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland.
The storm comes as meteorologists monitor the possibility of further significant weather systems along the US East Coast this autumn, with the El Niño climate pattern influencing weather conditions.