At least 4 dead after powerful Northeast storm knocks out power, floods roads and prompts an evacuation

By Mary Gilbert, Elizabeth Wolfe and Robert Shackelford, CNN

(CNN) — At least four people died across four states as a powerful storm battered parts of the East Coast over the weekend and stretched into the Northeast Monday, knocking out power, washing out roads and prompting one community’s evacuation.

A 72-year-old woman died in South Carolina after her vehicle was submerged in water during storms, according to Charleston newspaper Post and Courier. The city coroner’s office said the death was storm-related, the paper reported. The area received more than six inches of rain on Sunday.

In Pennsylvania, a 73-year-old man died early Monday after his vehicle was also submerged in high water after heavy rainfall, according to coroner’s office in Lancaster County.

A 40-year-old man died in Maine on Monday after he went to his roof to clear off a large tree piece that fell during a windstorm and was struck by another piece of a tree, authorities said.

An 89-year-old man was killed Monday in Massachusetts after “high winds and rain caused a tree to collapse” on a small travel trailer in Plymouth County, according to the area’s district attorney. The man, who had been trapped inside, suffered severe head trauma and was taken to a hospital, where he died, District Attorney Timothy Cruz said.

The storm system unleashed strong winds and heavy rain across the Northeast Monday, dumping 2 – 4 inches of water over much of the region within 24 hours, with reports of more than five inches of water reported just northwest of New York City. Authorities there issued a flood advisory for the Bronx Monday evening, warning of flooding in “low-lying & poor drainage areas.”

In northern New Jersey, the mayor of Little Falls warned of potentially significant flooding in areas around the rising Passaic River and asked residents to evacuate their homes before midnight. The National Weather Service projected the river will hit major flood stage in Little Falls by Tuesday, and authorities previously warned the flooding could be “catastrophic.”

“Residents remain in their homes at their own peril,” Mayor James Belford Damiano said. “Flooding may cause dangers that may prohibit rescues as early as the overnight hours.”

In both Maine and New Hampshire, there were multiple reports of water rescues, the National Weather Service said Monday.

Storm’s impacts linger

Though the storm had moved into Canada by late Monday, its effects lingered, and the threat of flooding remained active for multiple communities, including parts of Maine, where a flash flood warning remained in effect through early Tuesday.

Breezy conditions will also persist across much of the Northeast on Tuesday. Rain will come to an end across much of the region Monday night, but some flooding could be slow to recede and some rivers will still crest through Wednesday.

And as some communities begin working on recovering from the severe weather, hundreds of thousands of people remained in the dark Monday night.

As of 9 p.m., more than 660,000 customers were without power across the Northeast, according to poweroutage.us. The vast majority of them were in Maine, where more than 420,000 customers did not have power out of the more than 852,000 tracked.

More than 500 flights in the US were also canceled Monday and more than 4,700 were delayed, according to FlightAware.com.

Authorities rescued people trapped in flooded vehicles

A dangerous morning commute unfolded on the ground Monday across the Northeast with water rescues of drivers stranded in floodwaters reported in the region.

“Numerous roads” in Danbury, Connecticut, were flooded on Monday morning, forcing the rescue of at least four people, city and fire officials said. No one was injured.

First responders in Paterson, New Jersey, were “out all night and morning” rescuing people trapped in flooded vehicles, fire officials said. Seven people were rescued from flooded vehicles in Newark, New Jersey, according to city officials.

Waterways are swollen with a few flood gauges at major flood stage in New Jersey, New York and New Hampshire.

The mayor of Paterson, New Jersey, declared a state of emergency that may be extended until Thursday in anticipation of serious flooding from the rising Passaic River.

On the coast, the storm’s winds blew the Atlantic ashore, causing significant flooding that began Monday morning in Long Island, New York, and portions of southern New England.

More than four feet of storm surge sent water levels high enough in Providence, Rhode Island, to force the city to close the Bridge Street hurricane barrier gate. When closed, the gate keeps floodwaters from flowing into downtown Providence, according to the Army Corps of Engineers.

A bit of snow will fall across portions of the interior Northeast Monday night into early Tuesday. Total snowfall accumulations are expected to be minimal, with a few inches possible in both lake-effect prone areas and the high elevations of New York.

Damaging flooding hits the Southeast

The storm began trekking up the coast on Saturday, sweeping through much of Florida and then skirting the Southeast and mid-Atlantic coasts on Sunday, battering coastal communities with powerful winds and at times record-breaking rainfall.

A flash flood emergency was issued Sunday in South Carolina’s eastern Georgetown County, just south of Myrtle Beach, after nearly a foot of rain fell there in just a few hours.

The surge of floodwater forced water rescues across the area, the National Weather Service said. The weather service in the region said it has also received reports of snapped power poles, trees fallen on homes and damaged buildings in the area from a potential tornado.

Several daily records for rain were set in South Carolina, including 3.86 inches in downtown Charleston, where the last record of 1.18 inches was set in 1923.

The record rain combined with strong winds pushing water onshore to cause widespread flooding issues in Charleston on Sunday. High tide at one reporting station in Charleston climbed to the highest level ever recorded from a nontropical system.

Rainfall totals also climbed in Florida. Gainesville recorded 7.29 inches from the storm and Jacksonville received 5.70 inches.

Strong wind gusts of more than 50 mph also battered the state on Sunday. Wind gusts roared to 61 mph in West Palm Beach.

CNN Meteorologists Dave Hennen and Taylor Ward and CNN’s Jamiel Lynch, Sara Tonks, Nouran Salahieh, Caroll Alvarado and Celina Tebor contributed to this report.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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