5 dead in East Coast floods

Fri, 01 Oct 2010 13:07:00 +0000

Torrential downpours from a faded tropical storm marched into the Northeast on Friday, a day after claiming five lives, washing out roads, knocking out power and dousing some East Coast cities with more rain in hours than they normally get in months.

Massachusetts was in line for a soaking as the storm began making its way across New England on Friday. The torrential downpours and high winds struck the Berkshires early in the morning and were expected to hit the Boston area by midday.

The weather also snarled air, road and train traffic in the New York City area Friday morning. Motorists and pedestrians there coped with sheets of rain, poor visibility, slick roads and strong wind gusts as they made their way to work. The Federal Aviation Administration reported flight delays at New York's Kennedy and La Guardia airports.

The massive rainstorm drove up the Eastern Seaboard from the Carolinas to Maine on Thursday, the worst of it falling in North Carolina where Jacksonville took on 12 inches in six hours -- nearly a quarter of its typical annual rainfall.

Salon.com > TOM FOREMAN Jr.

5 dead in East Coast floods