A fast-intensifying nor'easter drove coastal flooding into Jersey Shore streets and some homes on Saturday, leaving many roads impassable, while more than 70,000 customers across the Northeast lost power. Forecasters expect the storm to curl back toward New Jersey on Saturday night and possibly linger until Tuesday.
The National Weather Service warned of major flooding along the Mid-Atlantic coast over several high tides through the weekend, with New Jersey and Delaware at particular risk, PBS News reported. Its message to people in low-lying shore areas: "Prepare immediately for significant inundation in low-lying areas near the shore, including roads underwater and impacts to homes and businesses."
More than 31 million people were under a coastal flood alert and 3.6 million under a high wind warning, according to CBS News. By Saturday morning, water fully covered many roads on the New Jersey and Delaware coasts, making them impassable.
Before the storm arrived, CBS counted more than 60 million people on the East Coast facing severe weather from it.
Here is where the storm's biggest impacts are hitting or expected.
1. The New Jersey and Delaware coasts
In Surf City, New Jersey, waves moved across floodwater that filled the streets and got into some homes, PBS reported. The town reported gusts as high as 74 mph, CBS said. The weather service had forecast gusts near 60 mph along the two states' Atlantic coasts.
Some roads on Long Beach Island were underwater. In Ship Bottom, some drivers tried to push through rising water as other residents walked to higher ground. In Ocean County, heavy surf ate away at beaches and block after block flooded, CBS reported.
Manasquan called a voluntary evacuation for some low-lying areas. Mayor Mike Mangan expects "a lot of water in the streets for a long time," CBS reported.
Sea Bright prepared for winds up to 50 mph and as much as 6 feet of water on some streets. Mayor Brian Kelly said he hoped hundreds of residents in low-lying areas would consider leaving, and that the borough would open its recreation center to evacuees.
The borough floods once or twice in a typical year, Kelly said, but "I think this one will be closer to an Irene-scale flooding event," a reference to the 2011 storm, PBS reported.
Working waterfronts are exposed too. Kenny Formica, owner of Surf City Marina, said water rarely reaches the inside of the building; the last time he recalls was Hurricane Sandy. He put that storm's cost to his business at more than $4 million. Customers reported boats missing.
2. Long Island and New York City
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul called coastal flooding the biggest threat and warned of waves up to 20 feet, along with heavy rain and powerful winds.
Rain totals could reach 3 to 5 inches in parts of Long Island and southern New England, versus 1 to 3 inches from the Philadelphia region into eastern New Jersey, CBS reported.
In the Long Island village of Freeport, crews built a sand wall along the beach to keep the rising tide away from homes. Mayor Robert Kennedy said the severity depends on the tides. "If the tide stays in, it could increase the flooding in the village," he said, according to CBS.
The Global Citizens Festival and All Things Go NYC were both called off. FlightAware counted 22 cancellations at JFK between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. Saturday.
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3. Massachusetts' South Shore and the islands
Weather service meteorologist Matthew Belk said peak gusts could hit 60 to 65 mph on Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket and about 50 to 55 mph around Boston, PBS reported.
Because trees still hold their leaves this early in the season, Belk said, they catch more wind, raising the risk of falling limbs that cut power and scatter debris on roads. Ferries to Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard and Rhode Island's Block Island were canceled Friday.
The coast's defenses are unfinished. Seawalls guarding parts of Cohasset and Scituate are midway through repairs, or those repair projects have stalled because of federal funding cuts, CBS reported. Strong winds can shove waves over seawalls, and big surf and high water can erode beaches and breach dunes, the network noted.
Kevin Gill, who owns an oceanfront home in Scituate, told CBS News Boston that waves strike the seawall and shoot straight up as high as 60 to 80 feet, and with the wind out of the northeast, "every wave ends up hitting the house."
A storm that may linger until Tuesday
Timing makes the threat worse. Before the storm even arrived, days of persistent northeast wind had piled water into back bays and tidal channels, and the full moon is expected to raise the tides further, CBS reported.
CBS also reported that the storm should hook sharply back toward New Jersey's coastline overnight Saturday into Sunday. It may then stall or drift nearby through Monday, dragging out the rain, wind and coastal flooding, before moving off on Tuesday.