Storm Lee toppled trees and cut power to tens of thousands Saturday as its outer bands began hitting coastal New England and eastern Canada, threatening hurricane-force winds, dangerous surf and torrential rains as its center spun closer.
Severe conditions were predicted across parts of Massachusetts and Maine, and hurricane conditions could hit the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, where the storm, downgraded early Saturday from hurricane to post-tropical cyclone, was expected to make landfall later in the day.
States of emergency were declared for Massachusetts and Maine, the nation’s most heavily forested state, where the ground was saturated, and trees were weakened by heavy summer rains. There were reports of trees down in eastern Maine, according to Todd Foisy, a U.S. National Weather Service meteorologist.
Utilities reported tens of thousands of customers without power from Maine to Nova Scotia.
