Nor’easter floods coastal communities, leaves thousands without power

A nor’easter struck the region last weekend, bringing high rainfall, wind gusts, and flooding. From Friday, Sept. 25, through Sunday, Sept. 27, inches of rain poured down on communities and wind gusts neared 60 miles per hour in many hamlets across Long Island, while high tides brought flooding across coastal streets.

Ahead of the storm, as the wind gusts grew Friday night, a spectacular sunset and double rainbow spread across the New York metropolitan area, blanketing the sky with deep shades of red and blue.

According to the National Weather Service, as of 11 a.m. Monday, rain totals ranged from two to six inches across Suffolk County, with two inches reported in Islip and roughly three inches in Patchogue, while Commack recorded 5.83 inches. These numbers might be higher as rain continued through Monday night. Wind gusts across Suffolk County also ranged between 50 and 60 miles per hour, with a peak wind gust of 55 miles per hour in Islip. Montauk topped the state’s wind gust peak, with 81 miles per hour recorded.

Throughout the weekend, flooding occurred in coastal communities, which ranged from a few inches of water on some bayside streets in Blue Point, to around two feet of inundation along streets surrounding Browns River in Sayville and Bayport. The Sayville Ferry Service suspended service on Saturday and Sunday as Town of Islip crews pumped water from the flooded streets.

Some residents in these flooded neighborhoods made the best of the situation and paddled their way through town. In Bayport, Shane Dunne and Colin Robson did just that along Browns River Road 3 and Oak Road, with water reaching past their knees around high tide Sunday at noon. The pair said the flooding was some of the worst they’d seen in the area.

According to PSEG Long Island, the storm caused outages for more than 128,000 customers over the weekend as more than 2,000 fallen trees and branches impacted electrical services. Some of the outages across the Great South Bay included parts of western Bayport, where a few hundred people lost electricity on Sunday night, and Davis Park throughout the weekend. By Monday night, PSEG Long Island reported that 99.95 percent of customers had power.

On social media, residents and visitors on Fire Island reported extensive erosion, including communities like Kismet, Fire Island Pines and Davis Park, with the storm churning out old bottles and driftwood. As of Sunday afternoon, the Cherry Grove Fire Department did not report extensive erosion in their neighborhood. At Smith Point County Park, sand eroded multiple feet below the end of a staircase connecting the beach with the boardwalk.