Also on Wednesday, a tree fell onto a Metro-North train in New York's Westchester County, NBC New York reported. Delays of up to 20 minutes were reported on several lines.
Another tree crashed through the ceiling of a day-care center in Vineland, New Jersey, and came to rest in a baby room with four cribs, according to NBC Philadelphia. No children were inside at the time.
In Lancaster County, Philadelphia, police received reports that two 600-foot-long chicken houses had collapsed and some homes and a barn were damaged, the local 911 dispatcher told NBC News early Thursday.
No injuries were reported but some roads had been closed because of flooding in the area.
The storm was set to move out over the Atlantic Ocean later Thursday morning, but gusty winds of up to 50 mph would likely persist in its wake in Boston and other areas, according to Weather Channel Lead Forecaster Michael Palmer.
The storm was the third punch from a single angry weather system that was blamed for killing at least eight people from Louisiana to Virginia. Five of them died Wednesday:
- Three people, including a 2-year-old boy, were killed when a large funnel cloud hit the town of Waverly, Virginia, 40 miles southeast of Richmond, at about 2:40 p.m. Wednesday, state police said.
- The body of a man who'd been missing since a funnel cloud destroyed his home was found Wednesday night in Appomattox County, Virginia, authorities said. The funnel cloud cut an 8- to 10-mile path of destruction through the area injuring seven other people, two of them seriously.
- A tree fell onto a man a death in Darlington County, South Carolina, the county coroner told NBC News. He was identified as Michael James Sr.
Crews in Virginia, meanwhile, continued working early Thursday to rescue several people trapped in storm wreckage in Tappahannock, 40 miles southwest of Richmond, NBC station WWBT reported. State police said more than 20 people were being treated at Riverside Tappahannock Hospital.
Meanwhile, a winter storm had brought more than 10 inches of snow to parts of Illinois and Michigan, and more than half a foot to Arkansas, Missouri and Indiana by Wednesday night.
This weather was set to shift east, dumping up to six inches of snow in parts of the Great Lakes and interior New England through Thursday, according to The Weather Channel.