Four killed as tropical storm Isaias pounds US Northeast

Tropical Storm Isaias killed at least four people on Tuesday as it made its way up the US Atlantic Coast.

The storm knocked out power to more than 2.8 million homes and businesses from New York to North Carolina, according to electric companies.

Isaias, which was briefly a Category 1 hurricane when it made landfall in North Carolina late on Monday, reduced the mobile home park in the north of the state to rubble hours later, leaving two people dead.

"It doesn't look real. It looks like something on TV. There's nothing there," Bertie County Sheriff John Holley told local reporters. "Vehicles are turned over. Vehicles are piled on top of each other. It's just very sad."

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said on Twitter that as of 2:30 pm ET on Tuesday more than 172,000 homes remained without power, even as Isaias moved northward and skies cleared.

He added that he had spoken with US President Donald Trump, who had pledged aid.

Social media images showed tornadoes in Cape May, Marmora and Long Beach Island along New Jersey's southern shore, and tornado damage in Dover, Delaware.

New York City, much of New Jersey, all of Massachusetts and other parts of New England went under a tornado watch. New York state officials temporarily shut down coronavirus testing centers as a precaution.