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Powerful storms lash eastern US

A car lies submerged in Danville, West Virginia, on Sunday after overnight storms flooded the area. A powerful nor'easter pounded the east with wind and pouring rain on Sunday, grounding airlines and threatening to create some of the worst coastal flooding in 14 years. PHOTO: AP

A powerful storm pounded the eastern US with wind and pouring rain, grounding hundreds of airline flights and threatening to create some of the worst coastal flooding in 14 years. It has been blamed for eight deaths across the US.

Airlines canceled more than 400 flights at the New York area's three major airports, said Steve Coleman, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

One person was killed in South Carolina as dozens of mobile homes were destroyed or damaged by wind, and two died in car accidents -- one in New York and one in Connecticut. The storm system already had been blamed for five deaths on Friday in Kansas and Texas.

The storm flooded people out of their homes in the middle of the night in West Virginia and trapped others. Some New Jersey residents along the shore evacuated, and officials in Connecticut urged coastal residents to do the same. Inland areas from upstate New York to Maine faced a threat of heavy snow.

West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin declared a state of emergency for all of the state on Sunday night.

East coast storms * Winds gusted up to 114kph in Charleston, South Carolina. * West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin declared a state of emergency. * Storm surge of 1.5m expected along the east coast. Source: Ap

Thousands of electricity customers lost power in states including New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and North Carolina.

The Coast Guard had warned mariners to head for port because wind up to 88kph was expected to generate seas up to 6m high, Petty Officer Etta Smith said on Sunday in Boston.

Heavy rain and thunderstorms extended from Florida up the coast to New England on Sunday. Wind gusted to 114kph at Charleston, South Carolina, the weather service said.

Storm warnings and watches were posted all along the East Coast, with flood warnings extending from North Carolina to the New York area. Winter storm warnings were in effect for parts of New England and eastern New York state.

Meteorologists expected sustained wind of 64kph and a storm surge of 1m to 1.5m, a combination that could cause as much coastal damage to New York's Long Island as a winter storm that wreaked havoc there in late 1992, Governor Eliot Spitzer said.

More than 14cm of rain fell in the New York region by Sunday evening, the National Weather Service said.

In central Florida, a tornado damaged mobile homes in Dundee but no injuries were reported, police said.
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