The Northeast is cleaning up after a storm slammed the region with rain, flooding and fierce winds as part of a bout of violent weather that battered most of the U.S. The storm started Tuesday night and is moving out Wednesday after knocking out power to hundreds of thousands. It washed out roads and took down trees and power lines. Wind gusts reached nearly 100 miles per hour in Maine. More windy weather is expected throughout Wednesday. The storm followed a day of tornadoes in the South and blizzards in the Midwest and Northwest. More than 2 feet of snow fell in some parts of the Pacific Northwest and the Rockies.

A sprawling storm has hit the South with high winds and tornado warnings that blew roofs off homes, flipped over campers and tossed about furniture in Florida. Another storm brought cities across the Midwest to a standstill with more than half of foot of snow. as it heads to the Northeast. The National Weather Service says a storm with 55-mph wind and hail moved through the Florida Panhandle and into Alabama and Georgia by sunrise Tuesday, along with reports of radar-confirmed tornadoes. Farther west, up to a foot of snow could blanket a broad area stretching from southeastern Colorado all the way to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The weather has already affected campaigning for Iowa’s Jan. 15 precinct caucuses.

A Pacific storm has pounded parts of Southern California with heavy rain, street flooding and a possible tornado, adding to hassles as holiday travel gets underway. Downpours Thursday targeted coastal Ventura and Santa Barbara counties northwest of Los Angeles County, swamping areas in the cities of Oxnard, Port Hueneme and Santa Barbara. The National Weather Service says rainfall rates exceeded 3 inches an hour in Ventura County. Port Hueneme officials issued evacuation orders for residences on four streets, and an evacuation center was set up at a college gymnasium. An early morning tornado warning was issued for the area but Ventura County authorities say no tornado activity was immediately observed.

A river that runs through Maine’s capital city has risen to levels not seen in decades in the aftermath of a heavy storm, and the state’s governor urged people in heavily impacted areas to avoid travel Wednesday. People across the northeastern U.S. were still mopping up after the major pre-Christmas storm dumped torrential rains and brought damaging winds from Pennsylvania to Maine, as some rivers in the region rose even higher. Some of the worst damage was in Vermont and Maine, where many people still lacked power. At least five people in East Coast states were killed in the storms.

Utility crews are working to restore power to hundreds of thousands of customers in Maine and some rivers continued to rise following a powerful storm that hit the northeastern U.S. At least five people were killed. Many communities were saturated by rainfall and a New Hampshire town rescued 17 people from flooding, four by helicopter. Some towns in Vermont, which had suffered major flooding from a storm in July, were seeing more flood damage. Wind gusts reached over 60 mph in some areas. Maine Gov. Janet Mills closed state offices Tuesday to allow time for power restoration and cleanup efforts.