A car sits in floodwaters from Boston Harbor on Long Wharf in Boston, Thursday, Jan. 4, 2018. A massive winter storm swept from the Carolinas to Maine on Thursday, dumping snow along the coast and bringing strong winds that will usher in possible record-breaking cold. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

A vicious winter storm hitting the East Coast is now bringing hurricane force wind gusts and coastal flooding to Massachusetts.

The National Weather Service says it received reports of a wind gust of 76 mph on Nantucket, Massachusetts, on Thursday and a gust of 75 mph in Wellfleet, on Cape Cod. Winds of 74 mph or higher are considered hurricane force.

Block Island, Rhode Island experience a 61 mph wind gust.

Coastal flooding in Massachusetts, including in Boston, Lynn and Cape Cod, has made roads impassable.

One observer said water had cut through a barrier island in Chatham, flooded up to a condominium complex’s doors and caused several cars to float.

Boston firefighters rescued a man who had become trapped in his car in a flooded intersection.

 

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