Forecasters cautioned that another cycle of high tides could flood already vulnerable coastal areas.
BOSTON — A powerful nor’easter continued sweeping across the Northeast on Sunday, flooding coastal communities and knocking out power for tens of thousands of homes and businesses. Forecasters warned that another round of high tides could bring additional inundation to exposed shorelines.
The slow-moving storm, which killed a New York City Housing Authority worker after a tree fell Saturday, was expected to persist through Sunday, bringing heavy rain, damaging winds and dangerous surf from New Jersey through New England.
Early Sunday, the storm was positioned just south of Long Island and east of northern New Jersey. It was expected to circle the region for about another 24 hours, said Bob Oravec, a lead forecaster with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland.
The heaviest remaining rain was forecast from northern New Jersey through New York City and Long Island and into southern New England. Although the storm was gradually weakening, Oravec said tidal flooding would remain a concern during high-tide cycles Sunday morning and again Sunday evening.
“The most impactful parts of the storm are likely going to be the high winds and the tidal flooding,” Oravec said.
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More than 100,000 customers across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic were without electricity Sunday morning, according to PowerOutage.us. The outages included more than 40,000 customers in New York, 31,000 in Connecticut, 21,000 in New Jersey and 11,000 in Massachusetts.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency said response coordination centers in affected areas were operating at an “enhanced posture.” Teams were also on standby in New England in case the storm caused widespread outages.
Flooding brought unusual scenes to New Jersey and New York on Saturday, with some residents kayaking through submerged streets while others went to beaches to surf unusually large waves. In Sea Bright, New Jersey, emergency crews rescued a woman and her dog after floodwaters trapped their vehicle, ABC7 reported.
In Surf City, New Jersey, water poured into a marina despite workers moving equipment to higher ground. Owner Kenny Formica said customers reported that boats and Jet Skis had disappeared or been blown off their lifts. In Norfolk, Virginia, floodwaters forced passing vehicles to push wakes through some streets.
The nor’easter also caused widespread travel disruptions. Hundreds of flights were canceled at Boston Logan International Airport, while flooding severed highway access to North Carolina’s Hatteras Island. Visitors were stranded, and one couple had to find a new location for their wedding after most of their approximately 45 guests could not reach the island.
AP journalist Julie Walker contributed from New York.