Nor'easter Batters the East Coast: One Death, Flooding and Mass Outages
A nor'easter, a coastal storm with strong winds blowing from the northeast, battered the U.S. East Coast over the weekend of September 26-27, 2026, killing at least one person and leaving hundreds of thousands without electricity. The storm brought power outages, coastal flooding, damaging winds, heavy rain, rough surf and hazardous ocean conditions from North Carolina through New England. The Guardian
The death occurred Saturday, September 26, in Brooklyn. A 56-year-old New York City Housing Authority employee was struck when a fallen tree came down on him in a parking lot. He was pronounced dead at Brookdale University Hospital.
Power losses were widespread and shifted through Sunday, September 27. About 110,500 households remained without electricity on Sunday afternoon, according to Poweroutage.US. More than 21,000 customers in New York and about 11,940 customers in New Jersey were still without power that day. Nearly 150,000 households lost power at some point during the storm. Totals were higher earlier Sunday. More than 130,000 customers were without power across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic on Sunday morning, according to PowerOutage.us. PBS In New York City alone, 2,500 customers were without power as of 9 a.m. Sunday, and the city had received 500 reports of downed trees by that hour. ABC News
Boston and the New York City tri-state area were among the affected regions. Coastal flooding, powerful winds, rain and dangerous rip currents extended along the Atlantic seaboard. Rip currents are narrow, fast flows that pull water away from shore. High tides threatened the coast even as crews worked to restore service.
Forecasters warned that coastal areas faced the sharpest risks. In its 7:01 a.m. EDT briefing on September 27, the National Weather Service said the greatest impacts would be along the coast through that night, including strong to damaging winds and minor to locally major coastal flooding. National Weather Service A Coastal Flood Warning, meaning flooding was expected, was in effect from 6:10 p.m. September 26 until 6:00 p.m. September 27. In its September 26 Area Forecast Discussion, the agency forecast moderate to major coastal flooding, heavy rain, strong winds and high surf.
High Wind Warning, Flood Warning, Coastal Flood Warning and Gale Warning alerts were in effect during the event. For coastal Monmouth and coastal Ocean counties, the National Weather Service issued a High Wind Warning through noon Sunday, forecasting north winds of 30 to 40 mph with gusts of 50 to 60 mph. The agency said the nor'easter was expected to weaken on Sunday night, with heavy rainfall persisting into Monday in several regions of the Mid-Atlantic and New England.
Air travel was heavily disrupted. FlightAware reported more than 5,000 U.S. flight delays and nearly 550 cancellations during the storm. A temporary ground delay was issued at Boston Logan International Airport.
Emergency declarations covered major population centers. New York Governor Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency, an order that lets officials mobilize resources quickly, for Bronx, Kings, Nassau, New York, Queens, Richmond, Suffolk and Westchester counties due to the coastal storm. Eight counties in New Jersey remained under a state of emergency after the storm.
The broader context here is one of concentrated coastal exposure meeting overlapping hazards. Wind brought down trees and lines, rain saturated ground and stressed drainage, and elevated tides worked like a blocked drain to keep floodwaters from receding. Restoration can proceed block by block, while tidal cycles and persistent rain determine when low-lying roads and transit infrastructure become usable again. Attention now turns to Monday rainfall in the Mid-Atlantic and New England and to how quickly utilities clear the remaining outages in New York and New Jersey.
