AT least six people have died more than three million have been left without power after Tropical Storm Isaias smashed the East coast with tornadoes and rain deluges on Tuesday.
Two people died when Isaias spun off a tornado that struck a North Carolina mobile home park, and authorities said two others were killed by falling trees toppled by the storm in Maryland and New York City.
Delaware State Police told CNN an 83-year-old woman was found around noon under a large branch in a pond near her Delaware home, making her the storm's fifth death.
A sixth person died in Pennsylvania when their vehicle was overtaken by water and swept downstream.
Nearly a day after making landfall, Isaias still sustained wind gusts of 65mph on Tuesday evening, with the eye of the storm about 20 miles from Albany, New York.
Two people died after a tornado destroyed several trailer homes in Windsor, North Carolina, where officials said about 12 people were hospitalized.
Isaias made landfall in North Carolina as a category one hurricane on Monday evening, with its strong gusts tossing boats against docks and displacing a growing number of people with floods and fires.
Bertie County Board of Commissioners Chairman Ron Wesson said several people who were initially missing had all been accounted for.
Bertie County Sheriff John Holley told the AP earlier that day: "It doesn’t look real, it looks like something on TV. Nothing is there."
"All my officers are down there at this time. Pretty much the entire trailer park is gone," he added.
The hurricane's eye made landfall just after 11pm on Monday over Ocean Isle Beach, bringing with it 85mph winds.
Forecasters warned of hurricane-force gusts returning in the Chesapeake Bay region as Isaias moved north on Tuesday.
The National Hurricane Center warned on social media that "Isaias poses a significant risk of life-threatening flash and urban flooding from heavy rainfall for areas along and just west of the I-95 corridor through tonight, from northern Virginia into upstate New York."
Hurricane specialist Robbie Berg said the storm will continue well into this week.
"We don’t think there is going to be a whole lot of weakening, we still think there’s going to be very strong and gusty winds that will affect much of the mid-Atlantic and the Northeast over the next day or two."
The weather service also said most of Isaias' damages come east and north it where its eye struck land.
Tuesday morning's sight in North Carolina saw hundreds of people raking debris and picking up whatever they could salvage.
Authorities in the state's Oak Island had to rescue five adults and three children after the storm touched land, which damaged the waterfront and completely rendered electricity and sewer facilities useless.
In Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, five home caught fire, and dozens of others were flooded.
Mayor Debbie Smith told WECT many hunkered down as they believed Isaias would remain a tropical storm as it was originally categorized.
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Some firefighters from Horry County, South Carolina, crossed state lines to help with the storm, spokesperson Tony Casey told the AP.
As the storm made its way north, 30 more people were displaced from Surf City, North Carolina just as dozens of homes were damaged by falling trees in Suffolk, Virginia.
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, experienced its third-highest water level since it began recording water levels in 1976, with 1989's Hurricane Hugo and 2016's Hurricane Matthew sending more water inland.
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