SCITUATE — Tens of thousands of New England residents were left without power Saturday after a rare fall nor’easter battered the region’s coastline, bringing near-hurricane-force winds, whipping rain, and strong ocean swells to some parts of the region.
More than 27,000 customers lost electricity service in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, according to the tracking website PowerOutage.com. The majority were in Connecticut, but there were more than 5,000 in Massachusetts.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellites showed the storm strengthening and slowly churning in the Atlantic just south of New England on Saturday afternoon.
Rain bands steadily dumped 1 to 3 inches of rain Saturday afternoon across Northeastern Connecticut and Rhode Island, in Massachusetts, on the South Shore and South Coast, and were inching north toward Greater Boston.
On-and-off showers were expected to continue into Sunday, with scattered heavy downpours at times across Boston and Southern New England, especially during the morning and early afternoon, according to Globe meteorologist Ken Mahan. Mahan also expected spotty flooding and steady rain across Northern New England.
The bad weather didn’t discourage many, from surfers to bird watchers to beer drinkers, from heading to the coastline to see pounding waves and experience raging wind.
Scituate residents Jason and Corinne Savery brought their three boys, from a month old to age 4, to Minot in the morning to check out the surf. Jason Savery said the family had to “get out of the house” because they were planning to be stuck for the next several days.
Luckily, they have a generator, Jason Savery said while gazing out at the massive waves rolling in and holding onto his baseball hat as gusty winds threatened to carry it away. He said storms such as this are a reminder of what the ocean can become.
“It’s only a matter of time before we lose power,” Jason Savery said.
In Scituate, Town Administrator Jim Boudreau warned people not to go to the coast to watch the storm.
“We keep saying it, and it doesn’t seem like anybody’s listening,” he said by phone.
Jim Carmichael of Winthrop, Christian Nicholson of Newport, R.I., and Connor MacNeil of Wayland grabbed their boards and went to the popular surf spot at Matunuck Beach in South Kingstown, R.I., as the nor’easter hit Rhode Island’s southern coast.
“The joy is it makes you feel alive when you get to go out in nature and feel the raw power of the ocean,” MacNeil said as he headed toward the water.
Carmichael said there is a little bit of danger in surfing such big waves, so it’s good to have friends with you.
The three of them have traveled as far away as Costa Rica to surf, and are glad to finally have some big waves in New England. “It’s been awesome,” he said of the Saturday morning waves.
“We like it when it’s chaotic,” added Nicholson.
Eversource officials said they expected the “most significant” impacts of the storm in Southeastern Massachusetts, including on Cape Cod and the Islands. As of 10 a.m. Saturday, the utility company said it had restored power to more than 23,000 customers.
“Significant winds have already been observed … and the storm is expected to continue to bring hazard-level wind gusts and heavy downpours, with the potential to cause widespread outages,” the company said in a statement.
National Grid said it had restored power to more than 16,000 customers by early Saturday afternoon, with crews still “responding to damage in hard-hit areas including Wrentham and Franklin.”
The storm on Saturday scrambled travel plans as wind gusts reached near-hurricane force in places including Wellfleet on Cape Cod and on Block Island. A high wind warning was in effect Saturday afternoon for the entire Massachusetts and Rhode Island coastlines, and was projected to stay in place through Sunday morning.
Hundreds of flights were canceled at Boston’s Logan Airport, while more than 100 were scrapped at Nantucket Memorial Airport and Martha’s Vineyard Airport, according to the flight-tracking website FlightAware.
Both Cape Air and Delta Air Lines, which had the highest number of cancellations at Logan on Saturday, offered free changes to affected travelers.
Multiple commuter rail lines also operated with “weather-related” speed restrictions early Saturday. But the MBTA said it had crews stationed “throughout the network” to address signal issues, power outages, downed trees, and other infrastructure issues.
On the water in front of Tree House Brewing in Sandwich, a handful of wing surfers were taking advantage of the conditions, their bright-colored sails flipping and bobbing above the waves.
Also known as wing foiling or wing boarding, the sport uses a handheld inflatable wing to generate power and move a board across the water.
“Insane is the right word,” a man remarked, shaking his head and taking a sip of beer by the brewery’s windows.
Near Humarock Beach in Scituate, Bob Jones, 88, picked up mail Saturday morning at the US post office on Central Avenue.
Nor’easters “come and go here in Humarock all the time,” he said. “It’s not unusual to have one, but in September, it is.”
At Sagamore Beach in Bourne, Tom Maloney poked his binoculars out the driver’s side window. While the giant white-capped waves were impressive, he was focused on tiny dark specks darting amid the surf.
“There goes a flock of black scoters,” he said excitedly.
During storms like this with days of strong northeast winds, many sea-dwelling birds get blown closer to shore, presenting a rare opportunity for birdwatchers to put eyes on them.
“Birdwatchers love these kinds of storms,” Maloney said. “They get all excited.”
The storm hit other parts of the East Coast hard. Some communities in coastal New Jersey saw streets flooded and homes inundated. Winds in the region also reached up to 50 miles per hour in some areas.
But back in Boston, life carried on despite the less-than-ideal conditions.
“We’re not busier than a typical Saturday, but definitely more than I expected because of the weather,” said Lily Greenfield, a waiter at the Seaport cafe Daily Provisions.
Inside the cafe, a few dozen customers took shelter and huddled over soup, sandwiches, and coffee.
Becky Davis, 52, of Boston, came prepared with a raincoat, but it wasn’t enough.
“The wind makes it really hard to stay dry,” she said, soaked through.
Marianne Mizera, Laura Crimaldi, and Carlos Munoz of the Globe staff and Globe correspondent Camille Bugayong contributed to this report.
Materials from the Associated Press were used in this report.
Chris Van Buskirk can be reached at chris.vanb@globe.com. Follow him on X @byChrisVan Lea Skene can be reached at lea.skene@globe.com. Follow her on X @lea_skene. Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him @FitzProv. Ken Mahan can be reached at ken.mahan@globe.com. Follow him on Instagram @kenmahantheweatherman. Laura Crimaldi can be reached at laura.crimaldi@globe.com. Follow her @lauracrimaldi.