Tropical Storm Isaias is wasting no time moving up the East Coast, after making landfall in North Carolina as a Category 1 hurricane late Monday night.
Two people in Windsor, North Carolina, died early Tuesday morning after a tornado generated by the storm tore through a marshy neighborhood. Before arriving in the U.S., Isaias killed two people in the Caribbean, Time reports.
As of 3 p.m. ET, the storm was near New York's Hudson Valley with maximum sustained winds of 65 miles per hour, moving north-northeast at 40 miles per hour, per the National Hurricane Center. Strong winds, heavy rainfall, and the threat for tornadoes will continue in the northeast through the afternoon. Isaias is expected to make the journey from the Carolinas to Canada in 24 hours, The Washington Post reports.
At least 2 million people are left without power in the wake of the storm between South Carolina and Connecticut, per PowerOutage.us.
Mark Kruea, spokesman for Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, told the Post that extra precautions were taken during hurricane preparation, due to the coronavirus pandemic. The control center was equipped with plexiglass sneeze guards, and staffing was reduced.
"We were ready for it," Kruea told the Post. "We're ready for 2020 to be over."