US: Thousands without power as tropical storm Henri makes landfall

Tropical Storm Henri made landfall near Westerly, Rhode Island, with winds of 60 mph, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said, leaving thousands without power.

Tropical storm warnings were extended from coastal Connecticut and Rhode Island to the luxurious oceanfront estates of the Hamptons on the eastern end of Long Island, New York, with over 100,000 power outages reported for customers up the northern East Coast as of 5 p.m. on Sunday, most in Rhode Island, reports Xinhua news agency.

Meanwhile in New Jersey, at least 86 people were rescued from flooded vehicles related to the tropical storm Sunday afternoon, according to the Newark Department of Public Safety.

It appeared that most major airports in the path of the storm remained open on Sunday, but hundreds of flights had been cancelled.

FlightAware, a flight-tracking website, reported that more than 1,000 flights in or out of or within the US had been cancelled.

Although the storm had been downgraded from a hurricane, many parts of New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts were experiencing heavy rain, which could cause major flooding and wind gusts of up to 75 mph, NBC News said on Sunday.

An advisory from the NHC said the storm had weakened slightly while moving across Connecticut.

Henri was expected to stall over the New York-Connecticut border Sunday night before heading for southern Massachusetts on Monday.

Heavy rain and flooding are expected across the region.

--IANS

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