Rain clobbers East; expect travel delays

(News Terupdate) - Half a million homes remained without power across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic region on Sunday, as rain continued to pound states from West Virginia to Connecticut for a second day.

The rain caused flooding and airport delays across the region, even as Saturday's high winds -- reaching hurricane force in some areas -- waned dramatically on Sunday.

"High winds are over, but the rain and flood threat remain in Mid-Atlantic and Northeast," CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras said. "There are major travel delays -- and more expected on Monday."

Some coastal areas have received up to six inches of rain since Saturday, according to the National Weather Service. Flood warnings remained in effect in parts of the Eastern Seaboard into Sunday night, including much of New England.

Flooding in West Virginia caused one death there, authorities said.

Con Edison reported more than 100,000 customers without power in New York City and Westchester County on Sunday, while the Long Island Power Authority said that 150,000 of its customers were without electricity.

"The ground is so wet from all the snow we've had this winter, it's helping the trees to topple over, as well as our utility poles," said Long Island Power Authority president and CEO Kevin Law. "The conditions are still too terrible to get crews out there."

Law said that some customers will likely go without power until early in the week.

Roughly 100,000 New Jersey customers saw their electricity restored Sunday, along with 30,000 PPL Electric Utilities customers in Pennsylvania. But tens of thousands of other homes in New Jersey and Connecticut were still without power on Sunday.

The outages were mostly due to power lines downed by Saturday's winds, which toppled trees and utility polls. Wind speeds reached 75 miles per hour at New York's JFK International Airport -- as strong as a Category 1 hurricane -- and 72 miles per hour in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

New York-area airports reported delays of at least two hours on Sunday, while Boston's Logan International Airport averaged 40 minute delays.

In the Midwest, meanwhile, flooding continued on Sunday because of snow melt, rains and ice jams. Farther west, North Dakota's Red River is expected to reach major flood stage around Fargo and Moorhead on Tuesday.

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