The second major winter storm of the season downed trees and flooded streets across the tri-state area overnight, triggering dozens of school opening delays Wednesday from Bergen County to Kingston as the National Weather Service warned of possible major flooding in parts of Long Island -- even after the worst of the rain moved out.
Flood warnings across a swath of the region, from Fairfield, Connecticut, to the Bronx to Ocean County in New Jersey were set to expire after dawn, while coastal flood warnings for the Jersey Shore and South Shore of Long Island, as well as southern Queens, cautioned of up to 2 1/2 feet of inundation above ground level until mid-morning.
A widespread 2 to 4 inches fell on the tri-state before the storm moved out -- and while final tallies are yet to come in, parts of the region had seen nearly 2 inches before 10 p.m. Tuesday -- with many more hours of rain to go. That comes on top of the foot-plus of snow that fell in some spots this past weekend, and as parts of New York and New Jersey still struggle to recover from last month's floods.
Get Tri-state area news and weather forecasts to your inbox. Sign up for NBC New York newsletters.
River flooding continues to be a major concern over the next day or two around high tide cycles, especially given how swollen the bodies of water have been over the last month. Already, the Saddle River in Lodi was at major flood state, though expected to fall quickly. Lodi Public Schools announced a districtwide closure for Wednesday.
Even before high tide Wednesday morning, parts of Long Island's southern shore were inundated by coastal flooding.
In Nassau County, video showed cars sloshing through water that had collected on the streets of Freeport. Further east, near the Hamptons, the National Weather Service reported major flooding out of Shinnecock Bay. Several schools across Long Island were either canceling or delaying classes as a result of the storm.
High winds also tore down trees across the region, leaving tens of thousands in the dark at the peak of the storm. Gusts topping 60 mph were reported in New York's Yonkers (68) and Larchmont Harbor (64), while parts of Queens also saw winds breach that mark over the last 12 hours.
Local
Around 9:45 a.m. on Wednesday, there were about 129,000 power outages reported in the tri-state, a marked improvement from just half an hour earlier. The highest numbers were in NYS Electric & Gas customers in Sullivan (47,776 outages) and Westchester (33,506).
In the city, Con Edison said Queens customers were most affected, but the impact was negligible. See updated weather alerts by neighborhood. Check the latest school closures and delays here.
Track the rain using our exclusive StormTracker 4 interactive radar below.
A number of road issues were reported by the NYPD, including on the southbound FDR Drive, southbound Henry Hudson Parkway, northbound Bronx River Parkway, and northbound Cross Island Parkway.
In Danbury, Connecticut, officials said the snow that melted in the overnight rain had overwhelmed the city’s drainage capacity, leaving a dozen intersections flooded. At least one motorist was rescued from a vehicle.
LIRR needed to suspend service between Oyster Bay and Mineola around midnight due to a downed wire at Glen Cove and also suspended service on the Long Beach branch between Long Beach and Valley Stream. Metro-North was also reporting delays and the need to skip some stations due to downed trees. NYC Ferry's Rockaway and St. George routes were suspended but resumed Wednesday morning.
The Staten Island Ferry warned of delays and disruptions through Wednesday morning and recommends passengers leave extra time commuting. In New Jersey, a state of emergency order is expected to expire at noon Wednesday.
New York Waterway suspended its Edgewater service on Wednesday morning due to flooding.
What's next? Check out the 10-day forecast
Once this mess moves out, we're looking at temperatures in the high 40s Wednesday as well as residual flooding. The weather briefly improves for the end of the week, with mostly sunny skies and mid-40s forecast for Thursday.
More rain could return as early as Friday evening. Thunder is also possible. This one could begin briefly as wintry precipitation for far northwest counties. The next system is not expected to bring as much rain as Tuesday's storm.
Besides the rain and potential for flooding, the other big story will be the cold. By Sunday, expect it to feel like winter outside. Sign up for our newsletters here.
Wild weather across the nation
Rain and high winds extended into the nation’s capital Tuesday night, forcing Vice President Kamala Harris’ aircraft to divert from Joint Base Andrews to Dulles International Airport near Washington when it encountered wind shear — a sudden shift in wind direction or speed.
Near Cottonwood, Alabama, a small city near the Georgia and Florida borders, 81-year-old Charlotte Paschal was killed when her mobile home was tossed from its foundation, the Houston County coroner said. A suspected tornado had touched down in the area.
Police in Clayton County, south of Atlanta, said a man died during heavy rain when a tree fell on his car on a state highway in Jonesboro.
More than 80 public school systems across Georgia called off classes entirely, while others taught students online or delayed the start of in-person classes.
In North Carolina, one person died and two others were in critical condition after a suspected tornado struck a mobile home park in the town of Claremont, north of Charlotte, said Amy McCauley, a spokesperson for Catawba County.
A possible tornado knocked down several old brick storefronts in downtown Bamberg, South Carolina, blocking the main intersection through the city about 60 miles south of Columbia. Thousands of bricks blocked U.S. 301, the main road through that part of the state, and about 40 homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed, said Democratic Rep. Justin Bamberg, who represents the area.
Storm-related injuries were reported in Florida, but no deaths. A section of Panama City Beach showed parts of roofs blown away, furniture, fences and debris strewn about, and a house that appeared tilted on its side, leaning on another home.
In western Michigan, a 35-year-old woman died Tuesday after she lost control of her minivan on a slushy highway and it collided with an SUV, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said. The ambulance taking her to a Grand Rapids hospital, where she was pronounced dead, was struck by another vehicle en route there, and a second ambulance was needed to finish the transport to the hospital.
The weather has already affected campaigning for Iowa’s Jan. 15 precinct caucuses, where the snow is expected to be followed by frigid temperatures that could drift below zero degrees.
Forecasters warned snow-struck regions of the Midwest and the Great Plains that temperatures could plunge dangerously low because of wind chill, dipping to around minus 20 (29 Celsius) and even far lower in Chicago, Kansas City and some areas of Montana.
In the Pacific Northwest, a blizzard pounded Washington and Oregon mountains on Tuesday, knocking out power and prompting the closure of highways and ski resorts. At one point, some 150,000 customers in those states were without electricity, although that was down to under 20,000 by late Tuesday night.
The storms with their potent mix of snow, rain, hail and wind played havoc with power lines in other states. More than 600,000 customers were without power in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, North Carolina and Virginia, according to the website poweroutage.us.
