New York and Northeast facing another day of wild weather

NEW Yorkers can expect rain and high winds through Monday as a powerful nor’easter that caused moderate flooding in Manhattan’s Battery continues to pound the area, knocking out power to thousands and grounding hundreds of flights.

New York and the Northeast face another day of heavy rain and coastal flooding even as the storm starts to weaken and move off into the Atlantic Ocean, said Bob Oravec, a senior branch forecaster at the US Weather Prediction Center.

“The next 24 hours are going to be the worst of what is left of the storm, and after that the effects should be diminishing,” Oravec said. 

The storm caused chaos for some air travellers but its worst impacts were coastal flooding and power outages. More than 100,000 homes and businesses were without power Sunday morning from Massachusetts to Virginia, PowerOutage.com said. Long Island was among the hardest-hit areas, with more than 24,000 customers still without electricity in Suffolk and Nassau Counties.

Moderate flooding was reported at Little Neck Bay at Kings Point on Long Island. That will likely continue through Monday, the National Weather Service said. Moderate flooding was also seen Saturday night at the Battery, on the southern tip of Manhattan, but only minor flooding is expected during Sunday’s high tide. Sandy Hook, New Jersey, reported major flooding during high tide on Saturday, while minor flooding is expected in Boston Harbor later on Sunday. 

New York City has spent one-third of the year facing flood threats, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a BlueSky post on Saturday. He said he called on city agencies, department heads and leaders to come up with a way of protecting the city’s neighbourhoods.

Oravec said the storm took a bit of an “atypical” track in that it moved west for a time, pushing more ocean water into New York and New Jersey. The system should start pulling out of the area throughout the day.

In addition to the power outages and flooding, 253 flights, mainly from Boston’s Logan International Airport, were cancelled early Sunday, FlightAware said.

The storm flooded some coastal and back bay roads in New Jersey, making them impassable for a time. New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill said in a social media post on Saturday that conditions had temporarily eased in parts of the state but were expected to worsen again later in the day.