NEW YORK — Heavy rain and strong winds battered the northeastern US yesterday as an unusually powerful autumn storm intensified, leaving tens of thousands without power and US media reporting one person dead.

New York, Boston and Philadelphia were all in the firing line of the “Nor’easter” — so labelled for its northeasterly winds — as authorities warned of potential major flooding and road closures.

The storm continued to dump rain during its “churn off the coast of the northern Mid-Atlantic and southern New England Saturday afternoon,” the National Weather Service said in its latest forecast.

The storm was expected to move toward New Jersey and Long Island “through tonight, resulting in the full force of this Nor’easter” impacting the region by Sunday morning, forecasters said.

Additionally, “major coastal flooding is expected along the Mid-Atlantic Coast over multiple high tide cycles coming off a full moon through the weekend,” NWS said.

New York state Governor Kathy Hochul said the storm was bearing down yesterday on coastal areas of New York City and Long Island.

“Conditions are extremely dangerous. Anyone who goes in or near the water this weekend is literally gambling with their life,” Hochul said in a press briefing.

In Brooklyn, a 56-year-old man was killed when winds toppled a tree that struck him, US media reported.