NEW YORK — Wild weather continued to pound much of the eastern U.S. on Monday, with flood warnings issued in New York City and other locations.
After a deadly weekend, in which at least five people were killed due to weather, the storm should finally wind down later Monday.
Monday morning, New York City’s emergency system flashed on phones as rain lashed the skyscrapers of Manhattan and surrounding boroughs, accompanied by strong winds and occasional rolls of thunder. Area airports reported widespread delays and major roadways were closed.
Flood watches and warnings remained in place across several states, all the way from West Virginia to New Hampshire.
In Massachusetts, the Boston Marathon was run in miserably cold and raw conditions, with wind-driven rain and temperatures in the low 40s.
Meanwhile, residents of the upper Midwest were digging out from a record-breaking spring snowstorm that pounded the Dakotas, Minnesota and Wisconsin with up to 2 feet of snow. One man in Milwaukee suffered a heart attack and died while shoveling snow.
It was the biggest April snowstorm on record in Minneapolis-St. Paul and Sioux Falls, S.D. And it’s now also the snowiest April on record in Green Bay, Wis.
The snow led to dangerous driving conditions and many flight cancellations.
The wintry grip on the Twin Cities continued to keep the boys of summer off the diamond, forcing the postponement of the third straight Minnesota Twins-Chicago White Sox game.
The prolonged wintry weather is “starting to beat everybody down,” said Erik Ordal, who lives in downtown Minneapolis and was taking his 3-month-old golden retriever puppy, Dakota, out for a walk in the snow. Ordal, who grew up in South Dakota, said he is used to the cold, snowy weather “but I’m certainly ready for some warmth.”
Frost and freeze warnings were in effect until Tuesday morning for much of Kentucky and Tennessee, where the National Weather Service warned that budding fruit trees could be damaged.
Farther south, powerful winds and tornadoes downed trees and power lines. Dozens of tornadoes were reported from Friday through Sunday from northern Texas to southern Virginia, the Storm Prediction Center said.
Virginia governor Ralph Northam declared a state of emergency Monday after storms ripped through western parts of the state.
The system will continue to move across the Northeast and New England Monday, the weather service said. During the afternoon, the heavier rainfall amounts will extend into New England. In addition to the heavy rainfall, pockets of freezing rain will also be possible, especially in the interior of New England.
Most of the activity will by over by Tuesday afternoon; however, lingering showers and snow showers will be possible in the lower Great Lakes and interior of New England Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning.
In North Carolina, authorities declared a local state of emergency in the city of Greensboro after an apparent tornado killed one person and caused damage Sunday afternoon in several locations.
Media reports prior to the police tweet said high winds damaged at least seven homes, destroyed a mobile classroom at an elementary school and toppled trees and power lines.
In addition to the Greensboro fatality, three other deaths were blamed on the weather.
A sleeping 2-year-old girl in Louisiana was killed when a tree fell on her family’s recreational vehicle early Saturday. A Wisconsin woman was killed when she lost control of her minivan on slick roads and veered into an oncoming SUV. And an Idaho truck driver was killed when his semitrailer struck a semi in western Nebraska that had been stranded on a highway by the bad weather.
And severe weather wasn’t limited to the mainland U.S. — dozens of people are stranded at a Red Cross shelter in Hawaii after a storm dropped over 2 feet of rain, causing massive flooding and grounding rescue helicopters.
Hawaii Gov. David Ige issued an emergency proclamation for Kauai where heavy rainfall damaged or flooded dozens of homes in Hanalei, Wainiha, Haena and Anahola.
