Level 1 — Absolute Beginner

A big storm hits the east coast of the United States. The storm is called a noreaster. It brings strong wind and heavy rain.

The wind is very strong. On Long Island in New York, the wind moves at 81 miles per hour. Trees fall down. One worker in New York City dies when a tree falls on him.

More than 130,000 homes have no electricity. New Jersey has about 50,000 homes with no power. Connecticut has about 25,000.

The sea comes into the streets. Cars drive through water. At Boston airport, more than 250 planes do not fly. People wait for many hours.

storm

Very bad weather with strong wind and rain.

wind

Air that moves fast.

coast

The land next to the sea.

flood

When water covers land that is usually dry.

power

Electricity for lights and machines.

tree

A tall plant with a wooden trunk and branches.

airport

A place where planes take off and land.

cancel

To stop something that was planned.

Level 2 — Elementary

A powerful autumn storm known as a noreaster moved slowly up the east coast of the United States between Friday and Sunday. It brought heavy rain, strong winds and high water to a long stretch of coastline from Virginia to New England.

The storm killed at least one person. A 56 year old worker for the New York City Housing Authority died in Brooklyn when a tree fell on him. Four other people were hurt by a different falling tree in the same part of the city.

Electricity companies said that more than 130,000 customers lost power. New York State and Long Island were hit hardest, with about 50,000 outages in New Jersey and about 25,000 in Connecticut. The strongest gust, 81 miles per hour, was measured at Montauk Point at the eastern end of Long Island.

Travel was difficult all weekend. More than 250 flights were cancelled at Boston Logan airport, where some delays lasted over four hours. Streets flooded in Sea Bright and Surf City in New Jersey, in Norfolk in Virginia, and in the Howard Beach area of Queens in New York. Forecasters said the flooding would continue through Monday morning.

noreaster

A strong storm on the US east coast with winds from the northeast.

coastline

The line where the land meets the sea.

gust

A sudden, short, very strong wind.

outage

A period when the electricity supply stops working.

delay

A situation where something happens later than planned.

forecaster

A person whose job is to say what the weather will be.

measure

To find the size, speed or amount of something.

injure

To hurt a person's body.

Level 3 — Intermediate

A slow moving noreaster punished the United States east coast over the weekend, and its worst feature was not any single record but its refusal to move on. Because the system crawled northward between Friday and Sunday, coastal communities were hit by several consecutive high tide cycles rather than one, so water that never fully drained away simply rose again a few hours later.

The human cost was concentrated in New York City. A 56 year old employee of the New York City Housing Authority was killed in Brooklyn when a tree came down on him, and four other people were injured by a separate fallen tree in the same borough. Saturated ground combined with sustained wind is a well known danger: roots lose their grip in soft soil long before the wind is strong enough to snap a healthy trunk.

Utilities reported more than 130,000 customers without electricity at the peak, with New York State and Long Island worst affected, roughly 50,000 outages in New Jersey and about 25,000 in Connecticut. The highest gust recorded, 81 miles per hour at Montauk Point on the eastern tip of Long Island, would qualify as a strong tropical storm, and parts of New Jersey had taken in more than four inches of rain since Friday.

Transport suffered accordingly. Boston Logan cancelled more than 250 flights and ran delays of over four hours, while Newark, LaGuardia and Kennedy reported waits of thirty to ninety minutes. Residents in several shore towns described flooding they had not seen for close to a decade, and forecasters warned that although the rain would taper off, tidal flooding and gusts of 35 to 40 miles per hour would persist into Monday morning.

consecutive

Following one after another without a break.

high tide

The time when the sea reaches its highest level on the shore.

saturated

So full of water that no more can be absorbed.

sustained

Continuing at the same level for a long period.

utility

A company that supplies electricity, gas or water to the public.

taper off

To gradually become less strong or less frequent.

borough

One of the administrative districts that make up New York City.

tidal

Relating to the regular rise and fall of the sea.

Level 4 — Advanced

The noreaster that ground its way up the eastern seaboard between Friday and Sunday was, by the raw numbers, an unremarkable autumn system. Its destructiveness lay in its geometry and its pace: a broad, slow moving low that parked its strongest onshore flow over the same stretch of coastline for the better part of three days, so that each successive astronomical high tide arrived on top of a storm surge that had never fully receded. Flooding of this kind is cumulative rather than catastrophic, which is precisely what makes it expensive and easy to underestimate.

The single fatality, a 56 year old New York City Housing Authority employee struck by a falling tree in Brooklyn, illustrates a hazard that meteorologists rank well above wind speed alone. Prolonged rainfall saturates the root plate; sustained rather than gusting wind then works the trunk back and forth until the anchorage fails. Four further injuries from a separate windthrow in the same borough underline how densely the risk is distributed in a mature urban canopy, where the failure of one specimen can reach a pavement, a parked car and a power line simultaneously.

Utility reporting put the peak at more than 130,000 customers off supply, concentrated in New York State and on Long Island, with roughly 50,000 interruptions in New Jersey and some 25,000 in Connecticut. The headline gust of 81 miles per hour at Montauk Point sits comfortably in tropical storm territory, and accumulations exceeding four inches in parts of New Jersey since Friday left little capacity in the drainage network. Coastal inundation was documented from Norfolk in Virginia through Sea Bright and Surf City in New Jersey to Howard Beach in Queens, a footprint that says more about the storm's breadth than its intensity.

Aviation absorbed a predictable share of the disruption, with Boston Logan cancelling upwards of 250 flights and running ground delays beyond four hours while the New York airports held arrivals for thirty to ninety minutes. Forecasters were careful to separate the two halves of the outlook: rainfall would taper through Monday afternoon as the low finally pulled offshore, but tidal flooding and gusts in the 35 to 40 mile per hour range would persist through the Monday morning cycles. For shore communities reporting the worst inundation in close to a decade, that distinction was the operative one.

eastern seaboard

The Atlantic coastal region of the United States.

onshore flow

Wind blowing from the sea towards the land.

storm surge

An abnormal rise in sea level pushed ashore by a storm.

cumulative

Increasing gradually as successive amounts are added.

windthrow

The uprooting or breaking of trees by the wind.

anchorage

The hold that roots or fixings provide against being pulled out.

inundation