More Than Two Million in Dark With Isaias Hitting East Coast

(Bloomberg) -- More than two million homes and businesses have lost power along the East Coast as Tropical Storm Isaias swirled through New York and the Northeast, killing a man in Queens, closing the Verrazzano Bridge and snapping power lines.

The worst of the storm had faded in New York City by late afternoon, leaving gusty winds and water still rising along the seashore. Earlier, seven tornadoes were reported across Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey and at least 18 were tallied Monday. They injured two people, flipped cars, damaged homes and tore limbs from trees, according to the U.S. Storm Prediction Center.

Isaias, which made landfall on Monday in North Carolina, is the Atlantic’s ninth storm and fifth to hit the contiguous U.S. this year, the fastest that both those milestones have been achieved in records dating to 1851. Forecasts called for an active hurricane season surpassing the long-term average of 12 storms in a single six-month season, which enters its traditionally most-active phase from the end of August through September.

Isaias became a post-tropical cyclone as it moved into southeastern Canada with winds at 45 miles (75 kilometers) per hour, the National Hurricane Center said in an advisory at 11 p.m. New York time. The Tropical Storm warning has been discontinued south of the Merrimack River, Massachusetts, it said.

New Jersey was hardest hit in terms of power outages, with at least 1.3 million customers in the dark. In New York, more than 560,000 customers were without service, mostly in Westchester County, the Hudson Valley and on Long Island. The outages are hitting at an especially difficult time as millions work from home instead of commuting to office buildings, which often have back-up generators.

The storm caused significant damage to Consolidated Edison Inc.’s overhead power lines in the New York city area, leaving 260,000 customers without electricity, the company said in a statement, adding that the destruction surpassed that of Hurricane Irene in 2011. Con Edison has returned service to 50,000 customers but full restoration will take multiple days, it said.

Temporary flood barriers and sandbags were deployed in New York City, particularly in the Wall Street area, to defend against the storm thrusting sea water into streets. The Verrazzano Narrows Bridge was closed and traffic limited on the George Washington, which connects New York and New Jersey. At least 2,000 trees were toppled in New York.

“Some of the storm has passed, but we’re still going to have these winds for a few more hours,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in an interview with WINS radio.

Wind strength has fluctuated in the last few days. Isaias briefly regained hurricane power as it came ashore in North Carolina late Monday, but from here on it will continue to weaken as it moves over land, eventually falling apart in northern Canada by Thursday.

The storm didn’t have much impact on cotton, corn and soybean crops in North Carolina and across the Mid-Atlantic.

Nuclear Shutdown

Duke Energy Corp.’s Brunswick nuclear plant was in the path of the storm when it hit land in North Carolina Monday night. Unit 1, which had been ramping down for maintenance, was taken offline after losing backup power supplies, said Roger Hannah, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in Atlanta.

The other unit didn’t lose backup supplies and was operating at full capacity. The only other reactors in the immediate path of the storm were at Dominion Energy Inc.’s Surry Power Station in southeastern Virginia, and both of those were operating at full capacity at 8:10 a.m., he said.

Isaias didn’t pose a threat to any major oil refineries or platforms.

It’s possible that Isaias will leave about $2 billion in damage and losses in its wake, said Chuck Watson, a disaster modeler with Enki Research. If Covid hadn’t discouraged tourism and more people were working in their offices, then the cost would have certainly been higher, he said.

Overnight Isaias will push north into Canada passing east of Montreal and is forecast to be absorbed by a larger weather system in a few days. It killed at least four people on its sweep through the Caribbean and then up the U.S. East Coast.

Forecasters are also watching a second potential storm in the eastern Atlantic, which has a 30% chance of developing, down from 60% earlier.

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