Storms kill 2, knock out power, down trees along East Coast

MONTPELIER, VT. >> Storms that began on Halloween killed at least two people, caused flooding, downed trees and power lines and damaged homes across the Northeast on Friday.

By Friday afternoon, the number of people without power in the Northeast was starting to creep down, but still more than 450,000 customers were without electricity. In some areas it could be days before all power is restored.

A man who was injured when a tree fell on his van later died, Tennessee officials said Friday. In New York, Thomas Connery, an 82-year-old Catholic priest from Glenville, died Thursday night after he got out of his car on a flooded road and was swept away, authorities said.

In a New York City suburb, a 9-year-old girl was injured on Halloween when she was hit by a falling tree while trick-or-treating. Another person was injured when a tornado touched down in Pennsylvania.

A tornado with winds of 111 to 135 mph tore through Glen Mills, a Delaware County suburb of Philadelphia, the National Weather Service confirmed. Local officials say that at least two dozen homes were damaged and one person was injured. Investigators are still evaluating whether tornadoes touched down elsewhere in the state.

By midafternoon Friday almost 75,000 homes and businesses were without electricity across Pennsylvania. In the western part of the state, storms caused flooding, mudslides and road closures. High winds Friday morning caused a car fire to spread to other vehicles in a hotel parking lot in Harmar Township, leaving six cars damaged, officials said.

WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh posted a video of a small school bus driving through floodwaters Thursday after a line of heavy rain came through a suburban neighborhood. The video showed water reaching above the headlights and near the hood of the bus, which the school district said was carrying students. The bus company told the station the driver was fired as a result. A message seeking comment was left with the bus company, ABC Transit.

Almost 147,000 customers were without power in New York state after a night of heavy rain and wind gusts of up to 70 mph. Gov. Andrew Cuomo told Spectrum News on Friday that several hundred people were evacuated in scattered areas around the state because of high waters. In the central New York village of Dolgeville, police used a boat to rescue people from a home. The Buffalo area saw flash flooding after 4 to 5 inches of rain.