Parts of the Northeast and South are recovering after a huge, deadly winter storm
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People across parts of the South and Northeast are recovering from massive, destructive storms that caused several fatalities, knocked out power to tens of thousands of customers and snarled travel Tuesday and Wednesday.
The South saw heavy rains, flooding and even some tornadoes, while communities in the Northeast faced significant precipitation, destructive winds and floods.
At least five people were killed due to the storm, the Associated Press reported, including an 81-year-old Alabama woman who died after her mobile home was hit by a suspected tornado.
Heavy rains and strong winds made some roadways impassable and cut power to thousands of New Yorkers from the New York City metro area to Rochester and other residents in the western part of the state.
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As of Wednesday afternoon, more than 110,000 customers in New York still had no power, according to poweroutage.us.
“This is a serious storm, New York,” Gov. Kathy Hochul tweeted late Tuesday night. “Utility crews will be working to restore power as soon as safely possible.”
Nearly 70,000 customers in Pennsylvania and more than 28,000 customers in Maine were also in the dark.
At least two inches of precipitation fell throughout parts of the Mid-Atlantic, while parts of northern New Jersey, New York and Connecticut saw more than four inches of rain.
The area near Orangeburg, S.C., experienced maximum wind gusts of 59 miles per hour, and at least two tornadoes were reported in the state. One tornado in downtown Bamberg left a main street littered with debris from nearby buildings.
Several roads across Vermont were closed Wednesday morning due to downed trees and power lines, and a flood watch was in effect for all of Connecticut through Wednesday afternoon.
The city of Norwich issued mandatory evacuations midday Wednesday after a potential break in the Fitchville Pond Dam on the Yantic River.
The weather system barreled through just days after another storm inundated parts of New England with several inches of snow.
The National Weather Service said Wednesday morning that even though much of the rain was on its way out of the area, the threat of flooding would persist through early Thursday for parts of the Mid-Atlantic.
Several unconfirmed tornadoes were reported across Florida on Tuesday, with wind gusts as high as 60 miles per hour in the Panhandle, WUSF reported.
Even more severe weather is in the forecast starting on Friday for parts of the South through the Mid-Atlantic, the NWS says. A large, low-pressure system will develop over the Southern Plains by the end of the week.
“The initial set-up for this next event is quite similar to the ongoing event that is now concluding over the Eastern U.S.,” the NWS said, adding that “the main difference is a greater supply of arctic air northwest of the low track.”
The Midwest could see blizzard conditions while the Gulf Coast can expect heavy rain, meteorologists said.
Meanwhile, some areas of the Midwest were already dealing with as much as a foot of accumulated snow Tuesday, including in Iowa where Republican presidential hopefuls were zigzagging the state to gather support before the Iowa caucuses next week.
The Iowa Department of Transportation said the winter storm over the past few days had caused “many” car crashes, and another one to three inches of snow were on the way for parts of the state Wednesday afternoon and evening.
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