1 dead in New York after storms hit eastern US

One person has died and hundreds of thousands of people remain without power after storms swept through much of the eastern US on Halloween.

A man died after he got out of his car and was swept away by flooding in Norway, New York, state officials said.

The man, who was not identified, had “failed to obey a traffic control signal” and drove into a flooded area, said Michael Kopy, the state’s director of emergency management.

Nearly 600,000 customers remained without power Friday from Virginia to Maine after storms swept through Thursday evening. Most of the outages were reported in New York and Maine.

Con Edison workers were working to restore service in Queens, New York, near John F. Kennedy International Airport, CNN affiliate WABC reported.

Winds blew trees down, and roofing materials and debris were stuck in power lines, the station reported.

Tens of thousands of customers were also without power in Pennsylvania, Vermont, Connecticut, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

More than 75 million Americans were under wind advisories or warnings Friday morning from the Great Lakes into the Northeast, CNN meteorologists said.

There were at least 175 reports of severe wind late Thursday from the Mid-Atlantic to New England, the National Weather Service said.

More than 20 low-temperature records were set Thursday from the Midwest to the East Coast, CNN meteorologists said.