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Isaias has left widespread destruction across the eastern US from 3 days of flooding, reports of over 30 tornadoes, and over 3 million customers without power. As a result, this could be the 11th billion dollar disaster of 2020.
The United States reached its 10th billion-dollar weather disaster in early July, 2020, which was the earliest point of any other year, CNN reported.
Eight of the eleven storms occurred in the south or southeast, including four tornado outbreaks.
The US has average close to 7 billion-dollar weather disasters each year since 1980. However, the past five years have seen nearly 14 severe storms on average.
The United States is on a record pace in 2020, as the sixth consecutive year in which the US has experienced at least 10 extreme weather events. Now in the wake of Isaias, it is likely to become number eleven and set new records.
As of this writing, damage reports were still coming in as responders and residents survey the affected areas. As of early Wednesday morning, Isaias had become a post-tropical cyclone and was moving into southeastern Canada, although its remnant was still affecting parts of northern Ohio, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
A wind advisory was issued for eastern and northern Maine, with winds of 35-45 mph and gusts as high as 50 mph, according to the National Weather Service. The storm is expected to dissipate Wednesday night or Thursday.
At least 5 people were killed in the US from Isaias, which made landfall on Monday night as a Category 1 hurricane on Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina. There were preliminary reports of over 30 tornadoes along the East Coast on Tuesday, CNN reported.
The storm is likely to leave expensive cleanup behind. Many people have already been left homeless. Two people were killed and at least 10 residences were completely demolished when a tornado struck a mobile home park in Windsor, North Carolina, Bertie County officials said. As many people across the East will be left without homes, it’s a good time to donate to charities that can help shelter families impacted by the storm.
As of Wednesday morning, August 5, over 3 million customers were without power in the southeast, mid-Atlantic and Northeast, according to poweroutage.us.
Power outages were affecting Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.
The largest outages were in New Jersey had nearly a million without power, New York had nearly 800,000 out, and Connecticut had over 700,000 out.
January 10-12: Southeast tornadoes in northern storms and flooding.
February 5-7: South, east and northeast severe weather.
March 2-4: Tennessee tornadoes and Southeast severe weather.
March 27-28: Midwest and Ohio Valley severe weather.
April 7-8: North Central and Ohio Valley hailstorms and severe weather.
April 12-13: Southeast and Eastern tornado outbreak.
April 21-23: Southern severe weather.
May 3-5: Central and eastern severe weather.
May 20-23: South, central and eastern severe weather.
May 27: South Texas hailstorms.
August 2-5: Hurricane Isaias: South, Southeast, mid-Atlantic and Northeast severe weather, tornadoes and flooding.
