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Henri: Thousands in New England without power, millions more under flood watches

Tropical Storm Henri
Posted at 5:20 AM, Aug 23, 2021
and last updated 2021-08-23 09:05:45-04

About a day after making landfall in New England, Henri is still bringing heavy rainfall to the area, though the storm has since been downgraded to a tropical depression.

Henri made landfall on Sunday afternoon in coastal Rhode Island as a tropical storm, though heavy rain and severe winds had been wrecking southern New England and parts of Long Island throughout the weekend.

Henri's heavy winds on Saturday and Sunday knocked down trees, causing some power outages in the region. According to PowerOutages.us, about 50,000 people are still without power in both Rhode Island and Connecticut. About 43,000 of those without power are in Rhode Island.

The outages come as temperatures are expected to exceed 90 degrees in the region later this week.

"Now, as the storm begins to pass out of the state, the important work must start for recovery," Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee said during a press conference, according to CNN. "We know that that's an issue and that's why getting power restored is critical."

While the threat from severe winds has disappeared, Henri is expected to continue dumping rain on the region in the early part of the week. According to the National Hurricane Center, southern New England is expected to receive an additional 2 to 4 inches of rain on top of the heavy rains the storm has brought.

CNN reports that about 50 million people remain under flood watches from Pennsylvania to New England, as additional rainfall could lead to small-stream or flash flooding in the area.