US: Tropical storm Henri hits east coast, thousands left without electricity

In a major development, tropical storm Heri caused a power cut on Rhode Island on the US east coast, which left thousands of houses without electricity on Sunday, August 22. Earlier, US President Joe Bidden had warned residents and said the storm could cause a "broad effect across the area, including floods and power outages". The US government also directed the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to team up with disaster relief operations in Rhode Island. The state of the New England region of the US is one of the worst flood-hit areas, which has been severely affected by the storm. 

According to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC), the storm Henri caused landfall in the Rhode Island area. Later, it slowed down on Sunday before bringing heavy rainfall across the northeast United States. As per the predictions, the storm is expected to move northwest before slowing down near the New York-Connecticut border. Meanwhile, security officials are on high alert. The speed of the hurricane wind gusts was recorded at 95kph.

Tropical storm Henri hits US east coast

As per the NHC, around 42 million people across the region were under a tropical high alert warning because of the Henri storm, but the warning was later withdrawn. The Henri Strom, however, caused huge loss to residents, as due to a heavy storm in Rhode Island, several bridges and roads were shuttered on Sunday, and some coastal areas were blocked. The storm was later reduced from a hurricane before arriving in New England. There were other areas as well, which were affected before the arrival of the heavy storm, including New Jersey. The area witnessed heavy rainfall, causing 200 residents to move to higher grounds as floodwater engulfed their houses.

A day ago, the southern US state of Tennessee witnessed devastating floods that caused 21 deaths and 12 people missing. The state recorded 24 hours of rainfall, which later caused flooding. Moreover, the state was hit by intense storms, causing more damage to people and the area. US President Joe Bidden also expressed his condolences on the disaster and promised every help to the state.

IMAGE: AP