ATLANTA, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- A storm system that walloped the U.S. South with tornadoes and heavy rains hit the Eastern Seaboard Wednesday, closing the Statue of Liberty, officials said.
WABC-TV, New York, reported Lady Liberty was off limits because of strong winds. The TV station said the storm downed trees across the region, including one that hit a car in West Milford, N.J., killing the driver and seriously injuring his wife.
A large lighted Christmas Tree at Manhattan's South Street Seaport was toppled but no injuries were reported.
Thunderstorms produced gusty winds that delayed flights by as much as 5 hours at New York City airports and forced a temporary ban on trucks on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge between Brooklyn and Staten Island.
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Winds up to 50 mph took out power lines in Sea Bright, N.J., and more than 10,000 PSE&G customers lost power statewide, WABC-TV said.
The National Weather Service said severe thunderstorms were forecast from the Florida panhandle to Maryland, with the possibility of flash flooding extending from northern Georgia into New England, CNN reported.
As it marched through the South Tuesday, the system slammed the Atlanta metropolitan area, damaging dozens of homes and creating a messy afternoon commute. At least 56 homes and one business in suburban Gwinnett County, Ga., were damaged by a possible twister, police said, but no injuries were reported.
Georgia's emergency management agency said high winds whizzed through Henry and Butts counties and rain caused flooding in DeKalb County, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Heavy rain flooded the ramp from Interstate-285 to Interstate-85, and left several roads underwater. Georgia Power spokesman Jeff Wilson said about 1,500 metro Atlanta customers were without power Tuesday night.
In Mississippi, state authorities sent crews Tuesday to survey the damage after severe weather injured at least 32 people, damaged property in 10 counties and cut power. NWS officials said four tornadoes hit the state.
Forecasters at AccuWeather.com said cities that could be buffeted by severe storms before the system moves out to sea Wednesday included Raleigh and Cape Hatteras in North Carolina, Norfolk, Va., and Salisbury, Md.
A Buford, Ga., couple whose house was destroyed in Tuesday's powerful storm returned home Wednesday to find their dog, an American Eskimo name Kirin, alive and apparently unharmed in the rubble, the Journal-Constitution said. Matthew Lee said he and his wife Reasey Lee were looking at "what was left of the bedroom and heard (their dog) whimpering."
Someone helped the couple lift a wall and the dog emerged, Reasey Lee said.
"A house is a house ...," Matthew Lee began, with Reasey Lee finishing, "but Kirin cannot be replaced."
