Deadly storm pounds the Northeast with torrential rain, 'scary' wind gusts: Updates

NEW YORK – An intense storm system battered the Northeast with torrential rains and fierce winds Monday, snarling traffic, delaying flights, knocking out power across the region and killing at least four people.

Wind gusts of up to 70 mph were recorded along the southern New England shoreline, according to the National Weather Service. In Connecticut, wind speeds of over 65 mph toppled trees and power lines. Weather-related warnings were issued in more than a half dozen states along the East Coast from North Carolina to Maine.

More than 5 inches of rain fell in parts of New Jersey and northeastern Pennsylvania, and parts of several other states recorded more than 4 inches, the National Weather Service said. Flooding across New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia and Boston left city streets completely underwater ahead of rush hour.

Mass transit systems, including the New York City subway, were plagued by delays and cancellations. Bridges across the tri-state area were subjected to travel restrictions, further stalling traffic. Authorities in New Jersey and Connecticut launched water rescues.

Meanwhile, more than 663,000 utility customers from Connecticut up to Maine were without power as of Monday night, according to PowerOutage.us.

In New England, trees fell and killed two people: one in Hingham, Massachusetts, and the other in Windham, Maine.

In the Hudson Valley area of Upstate New York, Adrienne Auchmoody, 79, awoke at around 2 a.m. by the sound of intense winds blowing against her home.

"You could hear it howling, and that's always a scary thing," she told USA TODAY. "It was pretty loud."

When she got up hours later, Auchmoody heard the rush of the brook behind her house. From her window she could see the forceful movement of the water as it passed through on its way toward the Hudson River. While Auchmoody, a member of a local organization that feeds volunteer firefighters, did not have any flooding she said she knew others in the area who reported water creeping into their basements.

The storm rolled northward up the mid-Atlantic states and reached New England on Monday morning after pounding Florida and the Carolinas with rain over the weekend. The system strengthened rapidly just off the southeast coastline Sunday afternoon before making its way through the New England Monday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service. It's expected to enter southeastern Canada by Monday evening.

See power outage maps: 400,000 homes, businesses without power as storm bears down on Northeast

Developments:

◾ Whiteout conditions in Michigan led to a huge pileup Monday morning, AccuWeather reported. The pileup occurred on Interstate 94 just west of Kalamazoo, forcing the highway's eastbound lanes to be shut down amid lake-effect snow squalls.

◾ Amtrak paused its service to Rhode Island because of a downed power line in Cumberland, a town in Providence, according to the Providence Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network.

◾ Ahead of anticipated flooding, the Montpelier Roxbury public school district in Vermont canceled classes early and asked parents and guardians to pick up their children.

◾ All ferries to Block Island, home to over 1,000 people who live about 12 miles off the coast of Rhode Island, were canceled. Ferries will begin operating at 9 a.m. Tuesday, according to officials.

◾ In Rhode Island, the storm's most intense impacts will coincide with high tide Monday afternoon. Forecasters with the National Weather Service say water levels at Fox Point in Providence will approach 10 feet. The last time water levels reached such heights was in 1991, when Hurricane Bob rose water levels to 9.9 feet.

High winds and flooding cause several deaths

High winds and rain caused a tree to fall on a trailer, killing an 89-year-old man in Hanover, Massachusetts, on Monday, according to Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz. In Windham, Maine, police said a 40-year-old man was killed Monday after part of a tree hit him while he was removing debris from his roof.

The Times Union reported Monday that a driver in Catskill, New York, was killed after the vehicle went around a barricade on a flooded road and was swept into the Catskill Creek. Authorities in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, pronounced a man dead after he was discovered in a submerged vehicle Monday morning.

According to WCBD, one person died Sunday when their vehicle flooded on a road in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.

Schools closed; flights canceled and delayed

School districts across the Northeast canceled classes or opened late on Monday because of the inclement weather.

Most schools across Connecticut were closed on Monday because of high winds and flooding threats, according to a list compiled by the WFSB television station. Several public school districts in New York and New Jersey ceased operations for the day. In Massachusetts, the Blackstone-Millville school district and Framingham Public Schools canceled classes. In Philadelphia, at least two school districts closed while at least two others delayed the start of classes.

Major airports across the Northeast reported flight cancellations and delays. Over 120 flights in New Jersey, New York City and Boston were delayed and about 100 were canceled, according to FlightAware. Flights out of Boston Logan International Airport have been delayed by an average of 2 hour and 14 minutes, as of Monday afternoon, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

Storm system drenched southeastern states over the weekend

The storm brought heavy rains across the Southeast during the weekend, flooding streets and raining out holiday celebrations.

Authorities rescued dozens of motorists stranded by floodwaters in Georgetown, South Carolina, county spokesperson Jackie Broach. But there were no immediate reports of injuries or deaths.

Since late Saturday, more than 9 inches of rain fell in the area, located about 61 miles northeast of Charleston.

The storm also dumped up to 5 inches of rain across Florida. The National Weather Service issued flood warnings, minor flooding advisories and coastal advisories for parts of the state as strong winds swept up water along the coast.

After storm subsides, cold air follows

Colder air behind the storm is expected to trigger lake-effect snow across the Great Lakes and into the Appalachians and upstate New York on Tuesday, according to the Weather Prediction Center.

"Even though the big storm will begin to depart the Northeast Monday evening, the huge circulation of the storm will overspread the entire eastern U.S. with very blustery conditions," the Weather Prediction Center said.

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Northeast storm updates: Flash flood warnings, power outages