Half a million without power in US after severe storms slam East Coast, killing 2
Nearly half a million customers remained without power in the United States on Tuesday morning after severe weather hit the East Coast, killing at least two people.
There were 439,431 reported outages nationwide as of 5:41 a.m. ET, specifically in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Georgia and Tennessee, according to data collected by PowerOutage.us. That number climbed to 1 million at one point on Monday night due to storms.
There were more than 600 reports of the storm causing damage across the country on Monday, mostly from New York state to Georgia. The National Weather Service said damaging storms and tornadoes were also reported in Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska.
Stormy weather on Monday caused at least two deaths — a 28-year-old man who was struck by lightning in Florence, Alabama, and a 15-year-old boy who was crushed by a fallen tree in Anderson, South Carolina, according to the report. local government.
After sweeping the US heartland over the weekend, the storms brought torrential rain, strong winds, heavy hail and heavy thunder to the eastern part of the country Monday afternoon and evening. Winds blew straight up to 71 mph in Georgia and 63 mph in Maryland, where power lines and trees fell. Grapefruit-sized hail has been reported in Virginia.
A power pole fell, trapping 33 adults, 14 children and a pet dog inside 34 vehicles on a major highway in Westminster, Maryland. State authorities said it took several hours for them to be rescued, but no injuries were reported.
Meanwhile, thousands of flights were canceled or delayed, affecting airports in major cities such as Atlanta, New York, Baltimore, Washington, DC and Boston.
Since then, most of the severe weather has left the East Coast, but the latest forecast shows a protracted New England storm system that could bring severe thunderstorms with gusts and even gusts of wind. is an isolated tornado. Much of New England remained on flood watch through Tuesday night as heavy rainfall could trigger flash flooding.
The main threat of severe weather shifts to the Great Plains on Tuesday, particularly Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas, where tornadoes and heavy hail are possible. According to the latest forecast, other areas under threat on Tuesday will be from Mississippi to Georgia, where strong gusts of wind are possible.
Stormy weather will continue into Wednesday and into the weekend with lots of rain forecast. Areas from the Midwest to the Deep South may experience partial flooding.
ABC News’ Matt Foster and Lauren Minore contributed to this report.
