NORTH-EAST US — A major rain storm struck the north-east US on Tuesday, bringing severe weather that resulted in flash flooding, widespread power outages, and travel disruptions across the region. The system caused at least one fatality when a 32-year-old man was killed by a lightning strike in Monroe Township, New Jersey, on Tuesday afternoon.

Flash flooding and tornado warnings were issued in several north-eastern US states on Tuesday night and into Wednesday as the storm intensified. Although a tornado watch was issued for the entire state on Tuesday afternoon, no tornado activity was confirmed in New Jersey. More than 11 million people from New York north to the wider New England region remained under threat of serious flash flooding on Wednesday.

The heavy rainfall led to dangerous conditions on roadways, prompting dozens of high-water rescues from vehicles and buildings. In Paterson, New Jersey, the fire department rescued at least 20 people on Tuesday, including an elderly woman in a wheelchair. Crews rescued a family with a young child from a car in Reading, Pennsylvania. Cars were reported trapped by floodwater in upstate New York on Wednesday morning.

Authorities issued flash flood warnings for Albany, Saratoga, Rensselaer, and Schenectady counties in New York. The National Weather Service, the U.S. forecasting agency of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, monitored the developing situation as water levels rose. "While not all of that rain will fall at once, torrential rainfall can persist for several hours in some communities, leading to street flooding and rapid rises on small streams and drainage canals," AccuWeather senior meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said.

AccuWeather described the storm as an unusually strong storm for late July that would intensify across the north-east in the coming two days, triggering potentially life-threatening flash flooding. Up to eight inches of rain was forecast for western Connecticut and western and central Massachusetts on Wednesday and Thursday, with up to 12 inches elsewhere.

The storm's impact extended to infrastructure and transportation, with power knocked out for tens of thousands of people across the north-east region on Wednesday. Airports reported the cancellation of hundreds of flights as crews worked to manage the severe weather conditions.

The fatality in New Jersey occurred in Monroe Township, where the 32-year-old man was struck by lightning while out in a field amidst severe weather conditions, according to the National Lightning Safety Council. The man was found unconscious in a field near a solar field at 355 Hoffman Station Road. He was transported to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, where he was pronounced dead.

This is the eighth lightning death so far in 2026, with two occurring in Florida. The incident occurred just after Lightning Safety Awareness Week ended the day before the lightning death in Monroe Township, New Jersey. Lightning Safety Awareness Week began in 2001 to bring attention to lightning deaths, which have dropped from 55 per year to about 20. About 37 million lightning strikes hit the ground in the U.S. each year, but the odds of being struck are less than one in a million and almost 90% of victims survive, according to the CDC.