Major storm brings flash flooding, damaging winds to East Coast

Heavy rain, thunderstorms and gusty winds move into the Northeast on Friday as a major storm system bears down on Canada.

The storm system had already spawned 11 confirmed tornadoes in six states: Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and North Carolina. The worst of the rain is over for the Interstate 95 corridor with just intermittent showers in the afternoon.

Behind this storm, a wind advisory was issued from Maine to Georgia, with gusts near 50 mph in some areas Friday. There are flood and wind warnings for the eastern United States, from the Great Lakes to the Carolinas and up to Maine.

Gusty winds are expected Friday afternoon and some higher elevations in New England could see gusts up to 55 mph. Gusty winds will persist until Saturday. An EF-1 tornado with winds up to 100 mph caused damage Thursday near St. Augustine, Florida.

In addition to tornadoes, 77 damaging storms were reported from Florida to West Virginia in the past 24 hours. Wind gusts were reported to reach 58 to 68 mph in North Carolina and Virginia.

A flash flood emergency was triggered Thursday evening just west of Pittsburgh, where nearly 4 inches of rain fell in a few hours. Multiple water rescues were reported in the Pittsburgh metro area Thursday evening.

Officially, Pittsburgh is experiencing the wettest start to the month on record. Over the past 11 days, the city has received more than 7 inches of rain.

In Charleston, South Carolina, dozens of roads were closed in the downtown area Thursday due to flooding. The city recorded a record daily rainfall of 3.23 inches.