The autumn nor’easter also drenched the northeast with heavy rains since first hitting New York and New Jersey late Monday evening, flooding some major expressways.
Around 495,000 customers in Massachusetts and 97,000 customers in neighboring Rhode Island had no power as of 9 a.m. Wednesday, according to outage tracker PowerOutage.US. Some residents in New York, Connecticut and Maine were also left without power.
Wind gusts as high as nearly 90 miles an hour were recorded in parts of Massachusetts, according to the National Weather Service’s Boston office. Wind speeds were expected to remain strongest along the coast, slowly diminishing through the day.
Some coastal towns reported ocean flooding, and the National Weather Service said more pockets of moderate coastal flooding and beach erosion were expected Wednesday afternoon.
Residents were advised to stay indoors and away from windows, and to avoid downed power lines.
Nor’easters typically form when cold air coming from Canada blows over the warmer Atlantic Ocean off the East Coast of the U.S., creating a low-pressure system that brings heavy rain or snow and strong winds, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The storm systems can occur any time of year but are most common between September and April and are more severe during the winter.
Last month, the remnants of Hurricane Ida pummeled the New York tri-state area, unleashing record-breaking rainfalls, flash floods and tornadoes in a powerful burst that blindsided some in the region and killed at least 45 people.