One Dead, Hundreds of Thousands Affected as Rare September Nor'easter Hammers the East Coast

A Storm That Arrived Weeks Too Soon

September is supposed to be the last gasp of summer on the East Coast — not the opening act of nor'easter season. But over the weekend of September 26–27, a powerful, slow-moving storm defied the calendar, lashing the region from North Carolina to New England with punishing winds, torrential rain, and coastal flooding that rivaled some of the worst in recent memory. September is early for a nor'easter, but it is not outside the normal season — according to NOAA, nor'easters can occur at any time of year, though they are most common between September and April. This one, however, hit with unusual ferocity.

In Brooklyn, New York, a 56-year-old man was struck and killed by a falling tree, according to the NYPD. He was later identified by Mayor Zohran Mamdani as Leighton Brown, an employee of the New York City Housing Authority. Also in Brooklyn, four more people were hospitalized with minor injuries after being struck by a falling tree in the Kelly Park section of the borough. The tragedy underscored a particular danger of early-season storms: this storm arrived before most trees had dropped their leaves, and when trees are still heavy with foliage, wind catches them differently — high gusts can do far more damage to a leafed-out tree than to a bare one.

Flooding, Outages, and a Full Moon Making Things Worse

Power outages across New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island peaked at about 136,000 on Sunday morning. The storm brought down more than 700 trees on Long Island and the Rockaways alone. Coastal flooding was severe and widespread. Atlantic City saw water rise 3.26 feet above normally dry ground — the highest level since Superstorm Sandy's 4.16-foot rise — while flooding at the Barnegat Bay Lighthouse reached 2.69 feet above dry ground, also the highest since Sandy.

A full moon on Saturday made the coastal flooding situation significantly worse, as tides were running higher than usual. In Egg Harbor Township in eastern New Jersey, nine adults and a dog had to be rescued from flooded motel rooms. Hundreds of flights were canceled at Boston Logan International Airport, as were most flights to the popular Massachusetts tourist destinations of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. As of today, Monday, September 28, the early-season nor'easter is weakening, though rainy, breezy conditions are expected to linger through Monday morning for the mid-Atlantic and into Tuesday morning for southern New England.

The Storm That Unearthed History

Amid the destruction, the nor'easter offered one remarkable, unexpected discovery. The storm's pounding surf uncovered a piece of Nantucket's maritime history: severe beach erosion along the island's south shore exposed the wooden remains of a 19th-century shipwreck, with local historians identifying the fragments as likely belonging to the Warren Sawyer — a wooden schooner loaded with cotton and scrap iron that wrecked near Miacomet Beach on December 22, 1884, after being blown off course during a gale while en route from New Orleans to Boston. The discovery was made in the exact same spot where large shipwreck fragments were uncovered by erosion in late 2022, and the Egan Maritime Institute and the state Board of Underwater Archaeological Resources had previously confirmed those fragments were from the Warren Sawyer.

Hawaii Also Battered — A Nation Under Siege by Storms

While the East Coast struggled through its nor'easter, Hawaii was simultaneously grappling with Hurricane Nolo. Nolo became the fourth storm this hurricane season to at least graze Hawaii — following Hurricane Lala in mid-August, whose eyewall grazed the Big Island, and Tropical Storm Moke, which struck parts of the Big Island with rain and winds. While direct landfall by Nolo's center was not expected, forecasters warned it could cause life-threatening flooding and mudslides, with parts of the Big Island expected to see rainfall totals up to 20 inches. President Trump approved an emergency declaration for Hawaii on Friday, providing federal resources and assistance to the state in its recovery.

Two coasts battered simultaneously by two different storm systems paints a striking picture of the nation's weather reality in late September 2026. The Pacific has been unusually active this season, with storm activity running above average, driven in part by a powerful El Niño. On the Atlantic side, the nor'easter serves as a stark reminder that extreme weather no longer waits for peak season — and that communities from the Jersey Shore to Nantucket need to be ready for it earlier than ever before.