Latest / Best of: Features / Nor'easter to lash the East Coast with strong winds, flooding and heavy rain

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Nor'easter to lash the East Coast with strong winds, flooding and heavy rain · Best of: Features

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  Nor easter to lash The east coast, with strong winds, flooding, and
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  heavy rain. Written by Kimberley, Crusy, and Leah Willingham. This article
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  is being read by an automated voice generated by Everlett. Providence, Rhode
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  Island, the AP, the powerful nor'easter headed to New England intensified Friday,
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  generating storm force, winds, and creating massive waves along the east coast
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  that forecasters warned could create dangerous conditions through the weekend. Tens of
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  millions of people are in the path of the storm, which has
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  already cancelled concerts and prompted people on islands near Cape Cod, Massachusetts,
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  to head to the mainland in the days ahead of the Nor'easter's
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  arrival. Dangerous flooding was expected along the Mid Atlantic coast, particularly near
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  New Jersey and Delaware, starting Friday and heading into Saturday, according to
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  the National Weather Service. The heaviest rain is probably going to be
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  from coastal Jersey, Long Island, up to Rhode Island and Eastern Massachusetts,
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  said Brian Hurley, Senior National Forecaster with National Weather Service Weather Prediction
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  Center, adding that the storm.
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  Was expected to weaken later Saturday. New Jersey communities brace for major
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  flooding, A voluntary evacuation had been issued in some low lying areas
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  of Manasquan, a coastal New Jersey borough, while the governors of New
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  Jersey and New York declared states of emergency in advance of the
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  storm. We're definitely seeing at the high end of moderate and maybe
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  the low end of major flooding, said Manasquan Mayor Mike Mangon. That
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  may not mean a lot to people, but that means there is
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  going
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  to be a lot of water in the streets for a long
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  time. Brian Kelly, the mayor of the tiny New Jersey Beach community
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  Seabright, said the borough is bracing for wines up to fifty miles
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  per hour eighty kilometers per hour and flooding that could reach up
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  to six feet one point eight meters on some streets. Officials expect
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  the flooding to start Saturday and worsen by midday. It's going to
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  be worse than average. We do have probably one or two flooding
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  events a year, sometimes more, sometimes less. But I think this one
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  will be closer to an Irene scale flooding event, Kelly said, referencing
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  the twenty eleven storm that caused major flooding in the northeast. I
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  hope I'm wrong, but that's my gut feeling. Kelly hopes hundreds of
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  residents living in low lying areas will consider evacuating. He said the
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  town will open its recreation center for evacuees. A lot of the
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  homes are elevated, but obviously, you know, people can get trapped in
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  their house temporarily, he added. Damaging winds threaten coast New England. Peak
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  wind gusts could approach sixty to sixty five miles per hour, ninety-seven
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  to one hundred and five kilometers per hour on Cape Cod, Martha's
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  Vineyard, and Nantucket on Friday night and Saturday, compared with about fifty
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  to fifty-five miles per hour, eighty to eighty nine kilometers per hour
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  around Boston and thirty-five to forty miles per hour, fifty-six to sixty-four
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  kilometers per hour farther inland, according to Matthew Belk, a meteorologist with
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  National Weather Service in Norton, Massachusetts. It's definitely going to be a
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  case of the closer to The coast you are, the more impacts
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  from the storm you're likely to see, Belk said. Belk said nor'easters
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  are not unusual as New England moves into fall, but one concern
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  this early in the season is that leaves remain on the trees,
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  creating more wind resistance. That could increase the risk of downed limbs,
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  which in turn can cause power outages and leave debris in roads,
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  he said. Storm disrupts concerts, baseball, and Island, travel. As residents braced
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  for The storm Friday, the Red Sox announced their weekend series against
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  the Chicago Cubs would be adjusted. The team moved the Sunday afternoon
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  game to Friday to create a split doubleheader. Separately, Ed Sheeran announced
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  that his high-profile Friday and Saturday shows at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro,
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  Massachusetts would be cancelled due to the storm. Meanwhile, the public ferry
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  service connecting Cape Cod with the islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard
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  was experiencing widespread cancellations Friday due to strong winds and choppy water.
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  Several flights to the islands were also cancelled. Over in Rhode Island,
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  ferries were also cancelled for Block Island. The disrupted ferry service was
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  expected to also spill into Saturday. For people who regularly travel to
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  and from the islands, the possibility of getting stuck on one side
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  or the other is part of life, said Sean Driscoll, a spokesperson
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  for the Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket Steamship Authority. Most people
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  have backup plans in place for when boats are canceled. It's a
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  nuisance, but you know, we know what to do with this kind
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  of stuff at this point, he said. This is not out of
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  the realm of ordinary. Part of living in this region is just
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  kind of knowing how to deal with this stuff. Ashley Destino of
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  Gloucester, a coastal city in northern Massachusetts, enjoyed a stroll along the
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  beach with her two young children before preparing to hunker down at
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  home during the storm. We came to the beach on Friday afternoon,
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  because we knew we were going to be inside all weekend, said
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  Destino, who has Legos and Arts and Crafts activities prepared to entertain
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  her two children, ages seven and four. She also prepared for the
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  high winds and tides by securing her boat with additional lines, and
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  her husband pulled out a generator in case the electricity goes out.
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  Willingham reported from Boston. Associated Press writers Michael Casey in Boston, Rodrigue
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  Nogui in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and Anthony Isagir in New York contributed to
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  this report.