A massive storm system unleashed vicious winds and thunderstorms across the East Coast, killing one man Monday who was struck by lightning in Alabama and knocking out power to more than 1 million customers from Pennsylvania down to Georgia.
Police in Florence, a city in northwest Alabama, said they responded to a call Monday after a 28-year-old man was struck by lightning in a parking lot and died – a rarity in the US as only about 20 people on average are killed by lightning strikes annually, according to the National Weather Service.
The storm system brought heavy rain, thunder and violent winds of up to 70 mph throughout parts of the coast from New York to Mississippi – and caused major travel disruptions in the skies. By Monday night, there had been more than 400 reports of strong winds across the region.
Footage from CNN affiliate WVLT showed homes in Knoxville, Tennessee, with their roofs torn to shreds and debris strewn about on neighborhood lawns. In neighboring Loudon County, the school district announced one high school would be closed Tuesday due to storm damage it sustained.
More than 8,000 flights within, into or out of the US were delayed Monday and more than 1,600 were canceled, according to data from flightaware.com. The most affected airports included the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, New York’s LaGuardia Airport and the Reagan National Airport near Washington, DC, according to the website.
Nine simultaneous ground stops, which prevent flights from landing, were in effect at airports, including Hartsfield-Jackson, LaGuardia, Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey and Philadelphia International Airport.
Live updates: Damaging storms hit Eastern US
And as the sun went down, hundreds of thousands of Americans were without power, with the majority of outages recorded Monday night in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Maryland, according to poweroutage.us.
In Georgia, crews were out as soon as the skies cleared Monday evening and worked to restore power, after uprooted trees and powerful winds, hail and rain downed power lines, according to utility company Georgia Power.
And parts of the country that were hammered with severe weather Monday may still not be out of the woods, as a new threat could develop Tuesday.
There is a Level 2 of 5 slight risk of severe thunderstorms Tuesday afternoon for parts of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida. Areas at risk on Tuesday will generally be south of where Monday’s damaging storms rage.
While this is good news for residents cleaning up after Monday’s mess, it also means more than 5 million additional people are at risk for damaging winds and heavy rainfall on Tuesday.
CNN’s Taylor Ward, Nouran Salahieh and Rob Shackelford contributed to this report.
Powerful storm system knocks out power to more than 1 million and leaves 1 dead after lightning strike - CNN
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