Storm Isaias: Six dead as tornadoes and heavy rainfall ravage US east coast

Rebecca Speare-Cole5 August 2020

At least six people have been killed as Storm Isaias continues to sweep across the US east coast.

Isaias had earlier made landfall as a hurricane in North Carolina, where it caused floods and fires that displaced dozens of people.

But after it was downgraded to a tropical storm, Isaias continued to wreak having on Tuesday, spawning tornadoes and dumping heavy rain as it travelled north.

Two people died when the storm created a tornado that struck a North Carolina mobile home park.

Storm Isaias wreaks havoc on the US east coast - In pictures

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Another died in Pennsylvania when their vehicle was overtaken by water and swept downstream.

Two others were killed by falling trees toppled by the storm in Maryland and New York City and a sixth person died in Delaware when a tree branch fell on them, authorities said.

A destroyed house after Storm Isaias swept across the US east coast
AP

Isaias sustained top winds of up to 65mph more than 18 hours after crossing the coast, but it was down to 45mph winds late on Tuesday night, according to the National Hurricane Centre.

The storm's centre was some 45 miles south-east of Montreal, moving northeast into Canada.

As Isaias sped northward, flooding threats followed.

A person who was injured while trying to secure barriers meant to block flood waters at a building at Water and State Streets in lower Manhattan is transported after being injured
AP

The Schuylkill River in Philadelphia was projected to crest early on Wednesday at 15.4ft (4.7m), its highest level in more than 150 years.

Aerial video by WRAL-TV showed fields of debris where rescue workers in brightly coloured shirts picked through splintered boards and other wreckage of the Windsor, North Carolina, mobile home park where two people were killed.

Emergency responders searching the area found no other casualties.

Several people initially feared missing had all been accounted for, said Ron Wesson, chairman of the Bertie County Board of Commissioners.

"It doesn't look real; it looks like something on TV. Nothing is there," Bertie County Sheriff John Holley told reporters, saying 10 mobile homes had been destroyed.

"All my officers are down there at this time. Pretty much the entire trailer park is gone."