Bomb cyclone: Storm hammers northeast US bringing flooding and tidal surges - as it happened

It is the second such major storm to hit the East Coast this year

A car is submerged as the coastal storm hits Scituate, Massachusetts (Scott Eisen/Getty Images)

A powerful "bomb cyclone" storm is lashing the US northeast, bringing snow, flooding and tidal surges all along the coast.

More than 2,100 flights have been cancelled by airlines, with New York, Boston and Washington DC hardest hit

Many areas were buffeted by wind gusts exceeding 50 mph, with possible hurricane-strength winds of 80 to 90 mph on Cape Cod. Also, heavy snow fell in Ohio and upstate New York as the storm spun eastward. Boston south to Rhode Island was forecast to get 2 to 5 inches of snow from the late-winter storm.

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Powerful winds forced President Donald Trump to fly out of Dulles International Airport instead of Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, where Air Force One is housed. Mr Trump flew to Charlotte, North Carolina, to attend the funeral of the Reverend Billy Graham.

Flooding has already been seen in Boston streets, including areas around the Long Wharf and the rapidly developing Seaport District, flooded in a winter storm.

The National Weather Service has coastal flood watches and warnings in place from southern Maine through coastal Virginia, including New York's eastern suburbs, and was also tracking a snowstorm heading east from the Ohio Valley that could drop significant amounts of snow in northern New York State. It forecast storm surges of up to 4 feet (1.2 metres) for eastern Massachusetts.

More than 700,000 homes and businesses were without power across the region, with the largest number of outages in New York, utilities said.

Federal offices closed on Friday in Washington, while dozens of schools throughout the region cancelled classes.

Southern California was also facing weather dangers, with risks of rain-driven mudslides prompting mandatory evacuations ordered for some 30,000 people living near fire-scarred hills around the Santa Barbara coast.

Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report

Key Points

• 'This is life and death' - warnings over safety as storm hits

[2 March 2018 20:19 · Steve Anderson]

Meanwhile, on the West Coast:

Rain has moved through Southern California, sparing a strip of coastal communities from a repeat of deadly mudslides that struck in January. 

Evacuation orders affecting up to 30,000 people on the south Santa Barbara County coast were lifted at midmorning. 

"The worst of the storm has passed and we are cautiously optimistic that due to a significant amount of pre-storm preparation we have come through this with minimal impact," said Rob Lewin, director of the county Office of Emergency management. 

[2 March 2018 20:29 · Steve Anderson]

Almost 1.7 million homes and businesses are without power in the northeast and midwest, about 3,000 US flights have been cancelled and the control tower at Dulles International Airport outside Washington was briefly evacuated due to dangerous high winds.

[2 March 2018 20:52 · Steve Anderson]

Here is the storm moving across the coast.

[2 March 2018 20:53 · Steve Anderson]

The National Weather Service in Boston is also reporting an almost-4-foot storm surge in the city.

"If this continues at the next high tide expected around midnight... a total tide of 14.9 feet is presently forecast," the organisation tweeted.

[2 March 2018 21:31 · Steve Anderson]

The weather service said all of Rhode Island was under flood and high wind watches through to Sunday morning. A truck toppled over on the Newport Pell Bridge due to high winds, prompting officials to close all major bridges in Rhode Island to commercial vehicles, including school buses.

A trailer also tipped over on New York's Tappan Zee Bridge, causing traffic problems for hours.

[2 March 2018 22:30 · Steve Anderson]

Here is our latest report on the weather:

[2 March 2018 22:30 · Steve Anderson]

We are ending our coverage of the storm across the US East Coast for now. Thanks for reading.