December Storm Leaves At Least 5 Dead, 800,000 Homes Without Power in Northeastern US

A powerful storm swept into the Northeast on Monday, bringing drenching rain, damaging winds, flooding and power outages to the region. Over 800,000 homes and businesses lost electricity in the hardest-hit states of Massachusetts and Maine. Five deaths were also reported due to falling trees and debris.

The National Weather Service said over 5 inches of rain had fallen in parts of New Jersey and northeast Pennsylvania by mid-morning.

Gusts reached 70 mph along coastal southern New England, toppling trees and power lines. Poweroutage.us reported that more than 700,000 total outages stretched from Virginia up through New England. This included over 278,000 blacked-out customers in Massachusetts and 263,000 in Maine.

An 89-year-old Massachusetts man was killed in Hingham early Monday when high winds blew a tree onto his trailer. Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz stated Robert Horky was pulled from the wreckage with critical head injuries and later died at the hospital.

In Windham, Maine, a resident removing debris from his roof was struck and killed by a falling tree limb. Police officials warned people to remain indoors until the storm passed.