Four killed as Tropical Storm Isaias pounds US Northeast

USA: Tropical Storm Isaias killed at least four people on Tuesday, August 4 as it made its way up the U.S. Atlantic Coast, including two deaths at a North Carolina trailer park that was struck by a tornado spun off by hurricane-force winds.

The storm knocked out power to more than 2.8 million homes and businesses from New York to North Carolina, according to electric companies. Isaias, which was briefly a Category 1 hurricane when it made landfall in North Carolina late on Monday (August 3), reduced the mobile home park in the north of the state to rubble hours later, leaving two people dead. In Mechanicsville, North Carolina, a large tree fell on a car, killing the driver, the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office said. The sheriff's department did not immediately identify the motorist.

Elsewhere, strong winds from the storm knocked down trees and power lines across Massachusetts, leaving more than 220,000 customers without power, CBS Boston reported. Cooper said he had spoken with U.S. President Donald Trump, who had pledged aid. 

A man in the New York City borough of Queens became the fourth fatality when a tree crushed a car he was inside, local authorities said. New York City, much of New Jersey, all of Massachusetts and other parts of New England went under a tornado watch. New York state officials temporarily shut down coronavirus testing centers as a precaution.

As of 11 p.m. ET on Tuesday the storm was about 45 miles (70 kilometers) south east of Montreal, Quebec, with maximum sustained winds of 45 miles per hour (75 km per hour), according to the Miami-based U.S. National Hurricane Center.