Nor’easter kills at least one in Brooklyn and grounds hundreds of flights across the U.S. Northeast

A powerful nor’easter brought heavy rain and high winds to the U.S. Northeast over the weekend, killing at least one person and causing widespread flight disruptions across the region. A man in Brooklyn was killed by a falling tree.

Tens of millions of people across the northeastern U.S. found themselves in the path of the powerful weekend storm, which brought coastal flooding, power cuts, travel chaos, and a wave of canceled stadium events from Virginia to Maine. States of emergency were declared in New York and New Jersey as both states faced a coastal deluge in some areas. The National Weather Service described the system as bringing dangerous coastal flooding and beach conditions, strong winds, and heavy rainfall to areas including New York City and Boston on Saturday. More than 160,000 households, nearly all in the northeastern U.S., lost electricity, according to the tracker PowerOutage. ‘Prepare immediately for significant inundation in low-lying areas near the shore, including roads underwater and impacts to homes and businesses,’ the NWS said in its alert.

Streets and homes were inundated with floodwater in the coastal New Jersey communities of Surf City and Manasquan on Saturday. A full moon was projected to worsen coastal flooding along the shore. New York officials warned of wind gusts of up to 55mph (86km/h) throughout the weekend, leading to downed trees and power lines.

Flight disruptions ripple across the Northeast

Flight disruptions lingered around the Northeast on Sunday as the nor’easter continued to bring heavy rain and high winds to the region. On Saturday, 1,199 flights were grounded nationwide and more than 2,400 were delayed, according to FlightAware. In Boston alone, 260 flights were canceled on Saturday, and around 200 flights in and out of Boston were canceled on Sunday, representing about 15% of the day’s schedule. Dozens of other flights were delayed at major New England and New York-area airports. Carriers will often cancel a chunk of their schedules during severe storms to ensure planes, passengers, and crews are not out of place. Airlines kept most of their schedules intact ahead of the nor’easter, however, with delays far fewer than other major storms.

American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and JetBlue Airways offered change fee waivers for a range of airports in the New York City area, Boston, and smaller New England airports. Customers could change flights without paying a change fee or fare difference if they could fly anytime before the middle of next week. The weekend disruptions followed an equipment outage on Monday that forced carriers to cancel hundreds of flights bound for the New York area and Philadelphia.

Concerts and sporting events called off

The Global Citizen Festival in Central Park, headlined by Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean, and John Legend, was canceled. Ed Sheeran’s concert at Gillette Stadium in the Boston area was canceled for safety reasons, the venue said. A professional football match between Red Bull New York and St Louis City SC was also canceled. The Red Sox moved the last game in their series against the Chicago Cubs to Sunday afternoon in Florida.

‘Don’t travel if you don’t have to,’ NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani told residents in a video message. ‘Do not drive or walk through floodwater.’