Northeast storm brings sheets of rain, high winds

LEVITTOWN, N.Y. — Torrential downpours from a faded tropical storm inundated the Northeast on Friday, toppling trees, washing out roads, forcing evacuations and cutting power to thousands. Water pooled so deeply in a Philadelphia suburb that a car floated on top of another.

Heavy rains whipped Boston for hours Friday afternoon while other parts of the Northeast dried out after being hit hard overnight. The storm was blamed for five deaths in North Carolina on Thursday and a sixth in Pennsylvania on Friday — a woman who apparently drove her car into a rain-swollen creek before daybreak.

A great swath of the Northeast was soaked by the morning commute, including New York City and Philadelphia. Flights coming into LaGuardia Airport in New York City were delayed three hours and traffic into Manhattan was delayed up to an hour under a pounding rain.

Firefighters in the Philadelphia area used a ladder truck to pull residents through the upper-floor windows of a building. Cars were submerged up to their windows, and one man found another vehicle floating atop his car.

"I'm a little frustrated, but what can you do? This is just nature," said the man, 33-year-old graphic artist Ismail Dibona.

Rainfall in the Philadelphia area topped 10 inches. Parts of upstate New York had unofficial totals of more than 6 inches of rain and New York City's Central Park recorded 3.08 inches.

"My drive to work was a nightmare today," said Paul Schatz, a paralegal on New York's Long Island. "On the way, I saw a huge flood and two cars in the flood. All I could see of the two cars were the roofs."

More than 50,000 power outages were reported in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and the New York City suburbs during the brunt of the storm Friday morning, but many customers had power restored by the afternoon as the deluge reduced to a drizzle.

Forecasts said a large high pressure system over Canada was expected to push the storm further offshore and likely spare New England the extreme rainfall that flooded roads and homes elsewhere.

In southeastern Pennsylvania, investigators believe the crash victim may have veered off the road in Collegeville because flood waters obscured her view of its edge, said Trooper John Dorazio. The area is isolated and dark, Dorazio said, and the woman may have simply come upon water she didn't know was there.