Powerful nor'easter slowly pulls away after flooding, strong winds batter Northeast
A powerful nor'easter has brought damaging winds, coastal flooding and heavy rain to the Northeast, with lingering impacts into Monday before conditions improve.
Widespread coastal flooding from a powerful nor’easter caused multiple vehicles to stall and prompted water rescues across Sea Bright, New Jersey, on Sept. 27.
A powerful nor'easter will continue to batter parts of the mid-Atlantic and Northeast into Sunday night with strong winds, coastal flooding and heavy rainfall. As the storm slowly loses wind intensity and moves away from the region through Monday night, conditions are expected to gradually improve.
A powerful nor'easter moving onshore on Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (Image: NOAA/GOES-19)
The storm moved onshore near Barnegat Light, New Jersey, Sunday morning, where the sun peeked through a break in the extensive cloud shield.
Coastal flooding
Sunday morning's high tide delivered the worst coastal flooding for much of New Jersey and New York as strong onshore winds inundated low-lying coastal areas with several feet of water, prompting water rescues. East-facing shorelines were hit the hardest with several roads and homes flooded.
"This storm may be remembered for its destructive coastal flooding and severe beach erosion, especially along eastern Long Island and the coast of eastern Massachusetts," AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jon Porter said.
While winds are expected to remain onshore for much of Sunday and Sunday night, an incoming low tide and diminishing winds indicate that the worst of the coastal flooding has already occurred.
GET THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP
•Have the app? Unlock AccuWeather Alerts™ with Premium+
"There are still a couple more high tide cycles into Monday, and there will continue to be back bay flooding from the central New Jersey coast south through coastal Maryland," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Brett Anderson said. "The good news is that each successive high tide will have lower water levels than the previous."
Damaging winds
As of Sunday afternoon, over 200,000 customers were without power in Virginia, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Additional power outages are possible as gusty winds continue across the region for much of Sunday.
As expected, the strongest winds Sunday morning occurred across coastal New Jersey and Long Island. The highest wind gusts observed during the storm through Sunday morning was 74 miles per hour in Surf City, New Jersey, on Friday night.
The storm is forecast to gradually lose wind intensity throughout the day Sunday with wind gusts up to 40 mph expected along coastal areas from New Jersey to southern Maine through Sunday night.
"Winds will be mostly offshore from the New York City area on south by Monday with gusts generally under 30 mph. The strongest winds will be along the north shore of Massachusetts and up into coastal New Hampshire, with gusts between 30-40 mph," Anderson added.
Heavy rainfall
Rain diminished across much of the mid-Atlantic late Sunday morning, but another round of heavier rain is expected to move onshore late Sunday afternoon into early Monday morning from Long Island to Maine. Renewed flooding is expected in some areas that have already received heavy rainfall.
Storm total rainfall of 1-2 inches is expected from the Delmarva Peninsula to central Maine with 2-4 inches expected from southern Delaware through New York City and much of Connecticut to far southern Maine.
A corridor of 4-8 inches is expected along the Northeast coast from Atlantic City, New Jersey, to Boston as heavier bands move onshore. The AccuWeather Local StormMax™ is 13 inches.
Cleanup forecast
Conditions are expected to improve significantly by midday Monday with most wind and coastal flooding impacts ending. Residual flooding along the immediate coast will still be possible, especially where water is slow to drain. Weaker offshore winds are expected to limit additional coastal flooding impacts.
Lingering showers are expected from New Jersey north across much of New England, but widespread flooding is not expected. Conditions are expected to dry out from south to north with locations like Philadelphia and New York City becoming dry by around sunset Monday.
Want next-level safety, ad-free? Unlock advanced, hyperlocal severe weather alerts when you subscribe to Premium+ on the AccuWeather app. AccuWeather Alerts™ are prompted by our expert meteorologists who monitor and analyze dangerous weather risks 24/7 to keep you and your family safer.
Report a Typo
