Thunderstorms Cause Deaths, Power Outages for 600K In South, East Coast

Two people have died, and hundreds of thousands of customers were without power across several states as severe storms hammered the East Coast and the South.

More than 600,000+ customers were without power across 10 states as of 11:30 p.m. ET Monday, according to poweroutage.us. North Carolina had the most outages, with at least 227,000 customers left powerless, followed by Pennsylvania, with around 149,000 customers in the state with no power.

In Florence, AL, police said a 28-year-old man was killed when he was struck by lightning in the parking lot of an industrial park. The Anderson County Coroner's Office in South Carolina also confirmed a death after a 15-year-old was struck and killed by a falling tree during the storm.

Thousands of flights were canceled or delayed due to the weather. Cities seeing major impacts at airports included Atlanta, New York, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Boston. The Federal Aviation Administration said thunderstorms are also expected to impact airports in Memphis, Dallas, Denver, Orlando, Tampa, Fort Lauderdale, and Miami this week.

The FAA issued multiple ground stops Monday night for several airports on the East Coast, including JFK, Newark, Philadelphia, Atlanta and airports in the Washington, D.C., area. In Washington, D.C., federal employees, including at the White House and the Pentagon, were instructed to leave work early Monday afternoon due to the weather.

Over the weekend, stormy weather spawned tornadoes, triggered flash flooding, knocked out power and uprooted trees across the U.S. There were more than 300 damaging storm reports from Colorado to Virginia. There were also 10 reported tornadoes-- eight across Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, and Colorado on Saturday and two in Illinois on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.

Storm damage was reported from Wichita, KS, through central Illinois and into Birmingham, AL. Heavy rains also led to dangerous flooding in parts of northeastern Missouri on Friday night, including in the town of Kahoka, where more than six inches of rain fell in six hours. Water rescues were reported in the area.

Golf ball-sized hail was reported in Loveland, CO, and Almena, KS, on Saturday. More than 40,000 people were left without electricity in Alabama on Sunday as gusty winds up to 61 miles per hour brought trees crashing down on power lines.

As weather becomes more extreme and causes power outages with the country’s many aging power grids, generators are becoming more and more common as well. Consider a home standby or portable generator so you are never left powerless! All these weather challenges and a hurricane has yet to make landfall. Prepare now and take advantage of a deal.