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Nor'easter knocks out power for tens of thousands across NYC area, more flooding predicted

By

Ryan Kost

,

Jessica Gould

,

Louis C. Hochman

and

Michael Sol Warren

Published Sep 26, 2026

Modified Sep 26, 2026

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People carry umbrellas as they cross Madison Avenue as a nor'easter passes through Manhattan.

Gary Hershorn/Getty Images

By

Ryan Kost

,

Jessica Gould

,

Louis C. Hochman

and

Michael Sol Warren

Published Sep 26, 2026

Modified Sep 26, 2026

Share

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Tens of thousands of people were without power as a Nor'easter continued to batter the New York City region on Sunday, with parts of the Jersey shore seeing the worst flooding since hurricane Sandy.

ConEd says about 3,000 customers are in the dark across New York City and Westchester County as of 11:30 a.m. Sunday. Most of the city's outages are in Staten Island and Queens. More than 70,000 outages were reported elsewhere in New York state and New Jersey, with Long Island and the Jersey shore hit especially hard.

Coastal flooding remains the storm’s most pressing threat, according to the National Weather Service’s New York office. Moderate flooding is expected during high tides throughout the region; major flooding of up to three feet is forecast for bayside communities in southern Long Island.

Wind gusts are expected to remain strong but gradually weaken through Sunday, according to the National Weather Service. And the rain is forecast to break midday Sunday, before returning in the evening and continuing into Monday.

Monday will be dreary – overcast with some light rain or mist – followed by sunnier skies and warmer temperatures returning Tuesday, said Dominic Ramunni, meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

Officials are strongly urged against travel until the storm passes.

“ Do not drive through flooded roadways,” New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said at a press conference Sunday morning. “You are putting yourself and first responders in danger. Take an alternate road or wait for the flooding to subside.”

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul delivered a similar message at a press conference Saturday, saying: “Don't take this lightly. Don't tempt Mother Nature.”

Hochul declared a state of emergency this weekend for New York City and Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk counties. Sherrill made the declaration for eight counties, mostly along the Jersey Shore.

One death has been reported. Leighton Brown, a 56 year-old NYCHA employee, was struck and killed by a falling tree in East New York Saturday afternoon, officials said on Sunday. It wasn’t immediately clear if the tree fell because of the day’s fierce wind gusts — some above 55 mph — but the Parks Department said it had been responding to hundreds of calls of fallen trees since Friday, and expected to be cleaning up for days to come.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the city was "mourning the loss of one of our own."

"My thoughts are with his entire family as they deal with this unimaginable loss. May he rest in peace, and may his service to our city never be forgotten," Mamdani said in a post on X.

Sherrill said Jersey Shore beaches had been eroded by the storm. She added that the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection would take time to evaluate the full scope of the damage in coming days.

“ We will start fixing what we can and submit an application for federal assistance if appropriate,” Sherrill said.

Key resources in the storm

News updates and alerts: Tune in to WNYC 93.9 FM and AM 820, use the WNYC app and check back on Gothamist for regular updates.

Power outages

Tens of thousands of people across the region were without power as of Sunday morning amid the high wind gusts.

ConEd reported about 3,000 people without power across New York City and Westchester County as of 11:30 a.m. on Sunday. Queens saw the city’s biggest impact, with about 1,500 customers out in that borough. The utility expects to have power fully restored in the city by 6 p.m.

JCP&L, which serves the Jersey Shore and rural North Jersey, reported more than 45,000 customers out.

PSE&G reported 19,000 customers without power on Long Island, and another 1,500 in the dark in its New Jersey territory

Orange & Rockland reported about 4,500 customers without power.

One video captured people kayaking near a train station in Howard Beach.

Transit and travel

The NYPD said there was a “soft ban” on empty and tandem tractor trailers until further notices. Mamdani had issued a travel advisory through Sunday urging drivers to stay off the road if possible.

Long Island Rail Road service was suspended Sunday on the Long Beach branch between Valley Stream and Long Beach due to flooding near Island Park. The MTA was running a shuttle bus replacement, and the NICE bus was crosshonoring LIRR tickets.

Both New York Waterway and Seastreak cancelled ferry service on Sunday.

What else to watch for

The storm has already upended weekend plans across the region. The Global Citizen Festival in Central Park and the All Things Go NYC Music Festival at Forest Hills Stadium were both canceled heading into the weekend. The Yankees also moved Saturday’s game against the Orioles to a Friday doubleheader.

New York Attorney General Letitia James issued a consumer alert warning on Saturday, urging New York consumers to be on the lookout for any price gouging during a storm.

“New Yorkers should never have to face unfair price hikes to stay safe during a storm,” James said in a statement.

Two people watch as a vehicle is submerged in floodwaters in a parking lot along the Hudson River during a nor'easter storm in Edgewater.

Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images

There was one bit of good news.

New York State Police said that a swimmer who was feared to have vanished off the coast of Fire Island on Saturday afternoon had been identified -- was "alive and well."

Police had been looking for an unidentified white male who was seen entering the water near Robert Moses State Park, but had "disappeared from view."

The story got a happy ending on Sunday, when police said a man -- who they confirmed was the same person they'd been searching for -- got in touch to say he'd seen the reports and was fine.

"The individual was located alive and well, and no further assistance from the public is needed at this time," police said in a statement.

Tagged

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new york city

Ryan Kost

Ryan Kost is a reporter on the day-of news desk, where he covers breaking news and writes enterprise stories about jails, courts, prosecutors and government accountability. His work focuses on the public institutions that shape life in New York. Before joining the newsroom, he lead a multi-part investigation with Columbia Journalism Investigations and New York Focus into how New York prosecutors handle wrongful conviction claims. He's also been a staff writer at The San Francisco Chronicle, The Associated Press and The Oregonian. Got a tip? Signal: ryankost.20

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Jessica Gould

Twitter

Jessica is the education reporter for WNYC and Gothamist. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Jessica reported on the shutdown and reopening of the nation’s largest school system, highlighting the unprecedented impacts on learning, health and mental health for students, staff and families. Got a tip? Email [email protected]

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Louis C. Hochman

After about two decades in (mostly) New Jersey-focused commercial print, digital and digital-but-radio-adjacent news, Lou stumbled into member-supported news in early 2021, as the editor and CEO of Montclair Local. There, he (hopes he) expanded enterprise, brought more sophistication to digital storytelling and moved the nonprofit newsroom closer to long-term financial sustainability. He helped lead the Local to its fourth consecutive General Excellence award from the New Jersey Press Association — the NJPA's highest honor with judges noting the paper's work to strip away layers of government opacity, to hold power to account, to make news accessible for more members of the community, to share the stories and concerns of more facets of the community and to tell compelling stories across multiple media. He's excited to continue the same ethic — news as a public service — at NYPR as the New Jersey and suburbs editor, drawing on the extraordinary talents of reporters including Karen Yi and Nancy Solomon. Lou lives in Philly (that commute!) with his partner and their two cats, about whom and about which he speaks incessantly.

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Michael Sol Warren

Michael Sol Warren covers New Jersey for WNYC and Gothamist, and previously reported on issues around the Garden State for NJ Spotlight News and NJ Advance Media. He can be reached at [email protected].

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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

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