Lingering Nor'easter Floods Northeast Coast, Cuts Power and Disrupts Flights
A slow-moving nor'easter battered the Northeast shoreline for a second day on September 27, 2026, bringing tidal flooding, wind damage and power outages from New Jersey to New England. The system reached the East Coast from Washington, D.C., to Maine over the weekend of September 26, then lingered offshore and kept driving heavy rain, strong winds and dangerous surf.
Power losses clustered on the coast. More than 100,000 customers were without power across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic at times on September 27, according to PowerOutage.us, with the heaviest losses in coastal counties from New Jersey to Connecticut Al Jazeera. In New York City, more than 2,500 customers were without power Sunday morning, according to New York City Emergency Management. In New Jersey, PSE&G reported just over 700 customers without power as of 7 p.m., after restoring service to more than 41,000 customers during the event.
Tidal surges flooded low-lying neighborhoods in New Jersey. Some spots in the state received more than 10 cm (4 inches) of rain since Friday, September 25. In New York, gusts toppled trees on Long Island, damaging homes and bringing down utility poles. Streets in the Howard Beach neighborhood of Queens in New York City were inundated.
One person died. A New York City Housing Authority worker was killed when a tree fell on September 26 during the storm. Air travel snarled across the region. More than 250 flights were cancelled at Boston Logan International Airport by late Sunday morning on September 27, according to the Massachusetts Port Authority, where gusts reached 64 km/hour (40 mph) Al Jazeera. Airlines cancelled more than 400 flights during the weekend because of the nor'easter. States of emergency were declared in New York and New Jersey BBC.
Forecasters warned impacts would persist through successive tide cycles. National Weather Service lead forecaster Bob Oravec said tidal flooding would stay through high-tide cycles Sunday night. On September 27 at 7:01 AM EDT, the National Weather Service forecast the nor'easter would continue to affect the New York area through Monday, with the greatest impacts along the coast through tonight National Weather Service. On September 27 at 9:00 AM EDT, the service reported the storm was lingering offshore of the New Jersey coast as it slowly weakened, with widespread minor to moderate flooding expected to continue National Weather Service.
The broader context here is duration rather than peak intensity. A nor'easter, a coastal storm with strong winds from the northeast, parked offshore works like water sloshing over a tub with each high tide. That prolongs coastal flooding, delays repairs and adds to flight disruption even where rain totals are moderate. Saturated soils plus gusts keep tree-fall risk high after the heaviest rain, while flooded low roads limit crew access in the same coastal counties with the densest outages. What to watch in the days ahead is recovery pace in the New Jersey-to-Connecticut coastal corridor and at Logan, where cancellations spread through national networks.
