Followup: Those Bad Eastern U.S. Monday Storms Materialized; At Least 2 Dead, Nearly 1M Without Power

A string of power poles toppled in severe storms
in Westminster, Maryland, Monday, part of a wide
ranging severe storm outbreak in the 
eastern United States. Photo by Jerry Jackson/AP.

On schedule, that huge area of the eastern U.S. that had been predicted to get blasted by severe storms and tornadoes received just that on Monday. 

So far, the storms are known to have killed two people: A teenager killed by a falling tree in South Carolina and a person struck by lightning in Alabama. 

Since the storms struck such a populated area, power was cut to 1.1 million homes and businesses, NPR reports.

In Westminster, Maryland,  33 adults and 14 children were eventually safely removed from 34 cars after a row of power poles blew over, dumping the power lines on and between the cars on busy Route 140. 

Most of the damage in the eastern United States was caused by intense straight line winds from the storms.  More than 1,000 reports of wind damage came into the National Weather Service. That's the most ever record in August and most in a single day this year, says the Washington Post. 

Meteorologists will be out today to determine whether a few of the storms created tornadoes.  They'll submit official reports on this within a couple days. One confirmed tornado was reported way up north in northern New York, not far east of Lake Ontario. 

Hail up to 4.5 inches in diameter was reported in Virginia.

New England was spared the rough weather on Monday, but southern and eastern New England was making up for that this morning.  A couple tornado warnings went up in Massachusetts.  Worse, widespread flooding has already reported in Massachusetts and Maine. Judging from radar images as of 11:30 a.m., that flash flooding appeared to be getting ready to worsen.