John Garrisi, left, and Gaige Graf move an outdoor table away from the shorefront during the early stages of a nor'easter storm on Friday. Robert F. Bukaty/AP hide caption

toggle caption

Robert F. Bukaty/AP

A powerful nor'easter began battering the East Coast early Saturday with thousands of people losing power, hundreds of flights cancelled, and high winds moving throughout the region.

Tens of millions of people from the mid-Atlantic through the coast of Maine are in the storm's path. The National Weather Service said coastal flooding, heavy rain, and high winds are expected this weekend from the rare September nor'easter.

Nearly 100,000 people were without power across New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts late Saturday morning. The storm is expected to intensify and move slowly north throughout the day, according to the National Weather Service.

Coastal New Jersey was already seeing rough surf and intense flooding Saturday morning. Michael Mangan, the mayor of Manasquan, New Jersey declared a state of emergency on Friday.

"Please make sure you have water on hand. You have food on hand," Mangan said in an address on Friday. "Many of our coastal roads might become impassable due to flooding as this tide surges on shore."

New Jersey and New York also declared states of emergency in counties across the two states, including in New York City. Videos posted on social media Friday night and Saturday morning showed streets inundated with water in New Jersey, and massive waves hitting the coast. In New York City, people were seen kayaking in the streets.

Francis Tarasiewicz, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Boston, said wind gusts along the coast could reach up to 60 miles per hour. This nor'easter comes earlier than the typical October through May storm season, he said, and will last longer than normal.

"Many nor'easters affect the area over the course of about a day," he said. "It's a quick punch of strong winds, in many cases, heavy snow or rain." But, Tarasiewicz said, "with this one, we're looking at about a 48 hour period of winds greater than 35 to 40 miles per hour across the area."

Spectators watch wave break during a nor'easter storm on Saturday in Hampton, N.H. Robert F. Bukat/AP hide caption

toggle caption

Robert F. Bukat/AP

Another concern is with full, leafy trees. Tarasiewicz said the winds will put significant strain on the plants and could lead to more power outages. He expects the greatest risk for outages across southern Rhode Island, eastern Massachusetts and the Cape and Islands region.

Hundreds of flights were cancelled Saturday morning with thousands more delayed, according to data from FlightAware. Ferry services on Cape Cod and in Rhode Island were disrupted, and Amtrak cancelled several trains due to the weather and downed wires.

The nor'easter also took out a number of events planned for the weekend.

Oceans Calling, Maryland's biggest music festival, was cancelled on Friday. The Red Sox announced they would move their games against the Chicago Cubs, and Ed Sheeran announced his show at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., would be cancelled.

Forecasters predict the storm to move northeast across Cape Cod from Monday night into Tuesday, easing by Wednesday night.

Nor'easters are named after the wind direction that results from them, so in this case, northeast winds, Tarasiewicz said. They're common in fall and winter months.

As this storm rages across the East Coast, in the Pacific, Hawaii remains under a hurricane watch and Hurricane Polo moves towards the Baja California peninsula. Those storms are part of a super El Niño climatepattern affecting the environment this year.