US storm kills three and knocks out power for thousands
At least three people have been killed as a massive storm brought power outages, flooding and flight delays to the US East Coast.
A woman died in floodwaters outside Charleston, South Carolina, and two men in north-eastern states were killed as the storm moved towards Canada.
Millions of East Coast residents were on flood watch and over 635,000 were without power on Monday night.
Lingering until Tuesday, the storm was expected to snarl up holiday travel.
The weather brought widespread heavy rain that led to river flooding and flash flooding, the US National Weather Service (NWS) said. Some areas were “experiencing road washouts”.
The first storm-related death was confirmed in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. Nancy Morrow, 72, was killed after she got stuck in a vehicle submerged in water, officials said. Officers jumped in the water to try to save her.
In Hanover, Massachusetts, on Monday an 89-year-old man, Robert Horky, died after strong winds knocked a tree on to his trailer, causing severe head trauma, local officials said.
A third person, whom police have not yet identified, died in Windham, Maine. A tree fell on him while he was trying to clean debris from his roof, authorities said.
Heavy winds and rain have made for dangerous travel conditions, leading to over 4,900 delayed and 500 cancelled flights travelling to or in the US, according to FlightAware. The worst-affected airports were in the Boston and New York areas.
Schools across the New England region have also been forced to cancel or delay classes because of road conditions.
In Boston, Massachusetts, winds were as strong as 50mph (80 km/h), according to the local NWS.
Dozens of people stranded in floodwaters were in need of rescue near the waterfront area of Georgetown, South Carolina, where more than 9in (22cm) of rain fell, officials said.
In total nearly 60 million people from Virginia to Maine were under a flood watch.
The weather comes nearly a year after a major winter storm in the US caused travel chaos during the holiday travel season.