Nor'easter Threatens the East Coast

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Anderson Cooper (1:02)

Good evening from the newsroom. We begin tonight with the enormous and already destructive storm that 40 million people are facing throughout through the weekend. You're looking at what's left of the road connecting North Carolina's outer bangs where the nor'easter is already battering the shoreline. Further up the coast, including in New Jersey, high tides made worse by a full moon tomorrow are expected to cause widespread flooding.

New York could see up to 3 feet of water in places, as well as winds hitting 50 miles an hour in the city. And 60 in the Boston area, along with more than a month's worth rain over the next two days. Now storm watches and warnings are up all across the region. CNN meteorologist Derek Bandam is on the Massachusetts shore, just south of Boston. Danny Freeman is in Atlantic City, which is already seeing strong waves. We begin with Derek and more on the forecast. What's the latest where you are, Derek?

Derek Van Dam (1:49)

Yeah, so we're in the situation in Massachusetts, this area, no stranger to strong nor'easters. But what's going to set this storm apart from previous storms is the duration. This is going to be a relentless three to four day slog of northeasterly winds that push up the Atlantic Ocean. I'm very concerned about the tide cycle tomorrow morning, especially into Western Long Island, Southern Manhattan. We could see some of the highest water levels since Hurricane Sandy back in 2012 That's really saying something about the seriousness of the storm that is approaching, the potential here for overtopping the seawall at Battery Park, even one to two feet of inundation on some of the taxiways across LaGuardia Airport on Western Long Island. I want you to see this satellite loop that I have pulled up. This is just astounding. It looks like a hurricane, a very well-developed eye right in the center.

We have to treat this like a tropical system because it will have similar impacts, even though Anderson, it doesn't have a name given to it. It is a nor'easter. It doesn't have tropical characteristics. However, we will experience the inundation of coastal communities. We will also experience the high wind and the heavy rainfall that could lead to localized flash flooding. I mean, look at some of these winds that we're seeing right now, all out of the northeast. Where I'm located here in Situate, Massachusetts, we've already had tropical storm force gusts. And the potential to receive six inches of rain from the coast through about a hundred miles inland brings the potential of localized inland flooding as well. Keep in mind, Anderson, we also have full leaves on the trees. They haven't fallen yet across this part of New England. So they're going to act like a sail catching the wind as it relentlessly pounds the coastline here, so the potential to pull down branches, full trees, electrical wires, power outages is really a concern here.

Anderson Cooper (3:40)

Anderson. What area is going to be hardest hit?

Derek Van Dam (3:46)

Well, it's ranging anywhere from the Cape of Massachusetts right down to Long Island. We're heading into the coastal areas of New Jersey, for instance.

We're really focusing and honing in on the coastline for greatest impacts because of this multi-day kind of onslaught of the winds pushing in from the Northeast. So that's going to push up the Atlantic. We're going to go through several high tide cycles. They'll be exaggerated by the full moon. We call that an astronomical high tide. And so that brings the potential for multiple river gauges and coastal gauges reaching moderate to major flood stage. And that is already causing destruction. We know that North Carolina Highway 12 was already washed out, a 500-foot section completely stripped of its pavement earlier today. And that wasn't even at the height of the storm. So as we reach the peak impacts of the storm, which will occur tonight, right through Sunday, we have a good 48 hours of some of this worse impacts of the storm. We don't want to sleep on it. It may not feel like a hurricane, but it's sure going to pack a punch.