2 dead after storms sweep the Southeast

A massive storm swept through the Southeast Wednesday, generating tornadoes that flipped cars on a Georgia highway, destroyed homes and killed at least two people.

Anthony Raines, 51, was killed when a tree crashed through the roof of his mobile home in Adairsville and nine were hospitalized for minor injuries, The Associated Press reports.

Another death was reported in Tennessee where a tree uprooted and crushed a storage shed where a man had taken shelter, the AP reports. Officials have not released his name.

The storm tossed vehicles like Matchbox cars on Interstate 75, shutting it down for a period of time.

“The sky was swirling,” Theresa Chitwood, who owns the Adairsville Travel Plaza, told the AP. The storm demolished a building behind hers and wind gusts were powerful enough to flip several tractor-trailers in the parking lot.

Utilities reported power outages affecting 74,000 users in Connecticut, nearly 25,000 others in Rhode Island and some 24,000 in upstate New York, the AP reports.

Emergency responders near the nation’s capital in Loudoun, Va., and Montgomery County, Md., said they conducted water rescues due to flash flooding.

Some flooding was also reported in North Carolina, where 13,000 utility customers were reported without power. West Virginia authorities reported about 9,000 without power, according to the AP.

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