In the heart of Paterson, New Jersey, a downpour had turned the streets into rushing rivers by Tuesday night. Children had already left the local elementary school, its doors locked until further notice. The fire department was ferrying stranded people from homes and cars, many of them elderly or holding young children. The rain had been falling so hard and so fast that by the morning, some drivers were still stuck in their vehicles.
One man, 32 years old, had not made it. He was struck by lightning in Monroe township, New Jersey, just before the storm intensified. As the sky darkened, authorities issued warnings for torrential rain and tornadoes stretching from New York into New England. The storm had already caused dozens of high-water rescues, including in Reading, Pennsylvania, where a family was pulled to safety from a car stuck in rising water.
Power outages and flight cancellations
The chaos was not limited to the streets. Tens of thousands of households remained without power on Wednesday, according to the tracking site poweroutage.us. Airports in the region were canceling hundreds of flights. In upstate New York, flash flood warnings were in effect for multiple counties, and cars were trapped as waters rose overnight.
Rainfall threatens to overwhelm drainage systems
AccuWeather said up to 12 inches of rain could fall in some parts of New England and New York by Thursday. “Torrential rainfall can persist for several hours in some communities, leading to street flooding and rapid rises on small streams and drainage canals,” said Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather's senior meteorologist. He called the system “an unusually strong storm for late July,” with the potential to become life-threatening for those without access to shelter or emergency services.
Heat dome adds to weather risks
While the northeast was battling storms, the National Weather Service warned that an intense summer “heat dome” was still affecting tens of millions of Americans in the south. Heat advisories were in effect in Texas and Oklahoma, with a heat index reaching up to 115F. Across the southwestern United States, from Phoenix to Las Vegas, AccuWeather predicted temperatures could reach 120F, with a heightened wildfire risk from the dry, windy conditions.
Earlier in the week, a tornado had struck Menasha, Wisconsin. Officials later upgraded it to an EF3 with winds of 145mph. The tornado had damaged buildings and injured 68 people, though no injuries were deemed severe. The storm system, now moving east, was expected to bring more severe weather to the region through the week.