A severe storm that tore through the eastern US on Monday claimed the lives of at least two persons, one of whom was struck by lightning and the other by a fallen tree.
From New York to Alabama, nearly a million homes and businesses lost power, and thousands of flights were cancelled.
There were watches for thunderstorms and tornadoes for more than 50 million people.
Over a thousand flights were delayed on Tuesday morning and power had still not been restored to over 250,000 residences.
A tree struck and killed 15-year-old Evan Christopher Kinley as he got out of his car to go to his grandparents’ house in Anderson, South Carolina, during the storm, the city’s fire chief told the BBC’s US partner CBS News.
Police in Florence, Alabama reported that a 28-year-old male was murdered in a parking lot after being struck by lightning.
According to the National Weather Service, being killed by lightning is extremely uncommon; on average, only 20 people a year in the US die from lightning strikes.
Along the whole eastern seaboard, the storm brought down trees and electrical lines.
Power has still not been restored for 100,000 residents in North Carolina, 95,000 in Pennsylvania, and 64,000 in Maryland as of Tuesday morning.
The New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Washington, DC airports received several ground stops from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Monday.
Over 1,000 flights were delayed as of Tuesday morning, according to FlightAware, and thousands of flights were cancelled.
Due to the catastrophic weather anticipated, government employees in the Washington, DC metro region were sent home early.
In a Facebook live briefing, Chris Strong, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said, “This does look to be one of the most impactful severe weather events across the mid-Atlantic that we have had in some time.”
According to CBS News, 33 people and 14 children were stuck in their automobiles for several hours in Westminster, Maryland, which is located about 30 miles north of Baltimore, when powerful winds toppled more than 30 utility poles.
In the area, wind gusts reached 60 mph, and emergency personnel had to save scores from flash flooding.