Last weekend’s weather event brought coastal flooding and power outages and claimed at least one victim
Credit: Egg Harbor Township Police Department/Facebook
NEED TO KNOW
- Nine adults and a dog were rescued from their first-floor rooms at two motels in Egg Harbor Township, N.J., on Sept. 26
- The rescue occurred during the nor’easter that struck the northeastern part of the country over the weekend
- At least one person in New York City died during the weather event, which is currently winding down in New England
Police in New Jersey said that flooding conditions during last weekend’s nor’easter prompted the rescue of nine people and a dog from two motels.
The Egg Harbor Township Police Department stated in a news release that the Pleasantville Fire Department responded to the West Atlantic City side of the township on Saturday, Sept. 26, just after 9 a.m. local time, to check on the well-being of motel guests.
Officials later found between 2 and 3 feet of water in the first-floor rooms of the Travel Inn and New Sea Breeze motels.
“Bargaintown Volunteer Fire Company subsequently responded with their high-water rescue vehicle, equipment, and firefighters to rescue nine adults and one canine from rooms; one adult was in a wheelchair,” per the news release.
The rescued people and dog were taken to Egg Harbor Township’s community center, where a warming center was established and where they received treatment.
Police also added that the Bargaintown Volunteer Fire Company returned to double-check the motels’ first-floor rooms, they found a small fire at the Travel Inn. There were no reported injuries and the blaze was put out.
Meanwhile, the rescued guests were provided lodging and then returned to second-floor rooms, per police.
Saturday’s rescue occurred amid a nor’easter that struck the northeastern part of the country over the weekend, bringing powerful winds, coastal flooding and power outages, per the Associated Press.
One person was killed in New York City during the extreme weather event, PEOPLE previously reported. A New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) employee, later identified as Leighton Brown, was fatally struck on Saturday by a tree while walking through a parking lot in Brooklyn, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) confirmed to PEOPLE.
After being struck, Brown was transported to One Brooklyn Health-Brookdale Hospital Medical Center in critical condition, suffering “trauma throughout [his] body,” police said. He was later pronounced deceased.
The nor’easter brought over 4 inches of rain to some parts of New Jersey since Friday as well as flooding in high-water spots, Sept. 25, per the AP. But the flooding was nowhere near the level of superstorm Sandy from 2012.
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“This was 100 times less than Sandy. Sandy for example had a 16-foot surge, we were nowhere near that,” meteorologist Steven DiMartino of NYNJPA Weather told the Asbury Park Press. “Sandy was the type of event that the state was knocked out for not hours or days but weeks. You couldn’t get gas for like three weeks, so it’s not even close.”
About 100,000 people were without power at times on Sunday, Sept. 27, along the northeast and mid-Atlantic, reported PowerOutage.us, per the AP.
In a Monday afternoon, Sept. 28, update on X, the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center said the nor’easter is winding down over New England.
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