Strong storm brings flash flooding, tornadoes, damaging winds to East Coast
Severe weather is also possible in the South on Election Day.
A strong storm brought torrential rain, gusty winds and severe weather to parts of the East Coast on Friday.
There were six reported tornadoes -- five in Florida and one in Virginia -- on Friday, including four confirmed tornadoes near Tampa Bay. Two of these confirmed tornadoes were EF-1. More damage surveys are expected today in the region.
Wind gusts over 70 mph were reported in parts of Maryland, which led to building damage in Carroll County, Maryland. In nearby Baltimore, strong wind gusts did major damage to an Amazon facility, toppling a 50-foot brick wall and killing one person.
In southern Pennsylvania, over 3 inches of rain was reported in Littlestown, Pennsylvania. Farther east in Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley, water rescues were reported near Pottsgrove.
Heavy rain associated with this strong storm is still moving through the Northeast Saturday morning. Some flooding remains possible, especially in parts of New England, with localized rainfall rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour. An initial burst of strong winds is likely in New England.
However, as the storm quickly moves off to the north and east, it will rapidly intensify as it heads into southern Canada. Behind the storm, widespread strong winds will develop in the Northeast with gusts of 30 to 50 mph expected. Power outages and downed trees will be possible and wind advisories and high wind warnings have been issued for a large part of the Northeast through Saturday.
The storm will depart the region later Saturday, with winds calming down overnight. Sunday is looking much quieter in the Northeast, including for the New York City Marathon.
New storm developing
Meanwhile, a new system will quickly develop in the central U.S. on Saturday. As the storm intensifies on Saturday night and early Sunday, a large line of storms with locally heavy rain is possible from Texas to Illinois. While the severe threat should remain limited, a couple of damaging wind gusts are possible on the southern end of the line of storms, particularly in parts of Louisiana.
Up to 1 inch of rain is possible along the cold front. Farther north, some light snow is possible in parts of Wisconsin and Minnesota as the storm interacts with cold air.
The storm will slide off to the east by Monday with rain likely from the Great Lakes to the Carolinas.
Severe weather chances in South
Unfortunately, the weather pattern is looking quite active next week, with yet another storm developing by Sunday and Monday.
By Monday, a powerful storm, with an advancing cold front will slide through the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys. As a result, the chances for a significant severe weather event are increasing for late Monday and into Tuesday -- Election Day. The main risk will be damaging winds and possibly several tornadoes.
The threat will slide off to the southeast by Tuesday, with a threat for more damaging winds, tornadoes and hail.
And another storm looks to be developing immediately behind this storm as well.
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