Severe Weather Causes Flooding In The Southeast, 5 Deaths Reported

Nearly 150,000 homes and businesses in the southeastern United States were without power early Friday after a powerful storm raked the region. At least five people were killed.

Florida bore the brunt of the power outages, with nearly 75,000, according to poweroutages.us. The Carolinas, Georgia and Virginia also reported outages, and tornado watches and warnings were in effect Thursday night from northern Florida up through North Carolina.

The National Weather Service advised early Friday that the storm system was strengthening in the mid-Atlantic region, bringing rain and snow, ice and high winds northward.

Up to 8 inches of snow was forecast Friday in parts of West Virginia, where classes were canceled across more than half the state. Wind gusts of up to 55 mph were predicted from the nation’s capital up through New Jersey. Dense fog was settling in over New York City and its suburbs.

The weather destroyed mobile homes in Mississippi and Alabama, caused mudslides in Tennessee and Kentucky and flooded communities that shoulder waterways across the Appalachian region.