Relentless storm threat slides south after days of flooding and damage in the Northeast

By Meteorologists Mary Gilbert, Briana Waxman

(CNN) — Another stormy stretch is underway in the Northeast, renewing flooding and storm damage concerns for a region that’s endured several bouts in recent weeks.

The latest unsettled stretch began Sunday, bringing repeated rounds of rain and storms with little reprieve between them.

⛈️ Get your local forecast in the CNN Weather app ☔️

Powerful storms battered the Northeast Wednesday night and were still unloading heavy rain around Philadelphia early Thursday. A flash flood warning covering more than 4.4 million people across the Philadelphia area is in effect until 5:30 a.m. Thursday.

A heat dome is partially responsible: It’s steering the jet stream — the river of air storms flow through — into the region as it bakes areas farther south with record-challenging heat.

Wednesday brought damaging wind gusts up to 70 mph across southeastern Pennsylvania into New York, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. More than 100,000 customers were without power across the region early Thursday morning, according to Poweroutage.us, as winds toppled trees and power lines across the region.

But the threat is not over. More severe storms are expected Thursday in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic.

Any storm, severe or not, could also deliver heavy rain. Flooding issues should be isolated, but any area caught under multiple storms is at the greatest risk for street flooding or rises on smaller waterways.

Thursday’s forecast

The most widespread storm threat will shift south and west Thursday, but parts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey won’t be entirely in the clear.

A Level 2 of 5 severe storm risk stretches from the upper Ohio Valley to the Mid-Atlantic coast, including Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, Baltimore and Washington, DC.

The best chance for these damaging storms is from later in the morning through the afternoon, with another round possible overnight Thursday into Friday.

Heavy rain will remain a concern, especially in areas recently soaked by repeated storms. A Level 1 of 4 flood risk extends from the Upper Midwest through the Ohio Valley and into parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delmarva.

Yet another round of storms is possible in Pennsylvania and parts of the Mid-Atlantic on Friday, but after that the Northeast will mostly dry out for the weekend.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.