It followed a day of tornadoes and deadly accidents in the South and blizzards in the Midwest and Northwest.

In New Jersey, where Governor Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency in advance of the storm, many streets and roads were flooded and rivers were rising after some areas got up to 3 inches (7.6 centimetres) of rain since Tuesday night. The storm knocked out service on some train lines in New York City and flooded a highway in the Bronx, upending thousands of commuters on Wednesday morning.

Lou DeFazio, 65, of Manville, New Jersey, lives steps away from the Millstone River that flooded disastrously in 2021 after the remnants of Ida slammed into the state and swerved riverbanks. He said the river was expected to crest later Wednesday.

"It's getting worse and worse," he said.

In Maine, Gov. Janet Mills delayed the opening of all state offices until noon Wednesday due to the storm, which began as snow and later turned into rain in parts of New England. Heavy snow was hitting parts of northern Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine on Wednesday morning.

As high tide neared closer on Long Island on Wednesday morning, parts of the southern shore were already inundated by coastal flooding. In Nassau County, video showed cars sloshing through water that had collected on the streets of Freeport. Further east, near the Hamptons, the National Weather Service reported major flooding out of Shinnecock Bay. Several schools across Long Island said they were either cancelling or delaying classes as a result of the storm.

The wild weather came as portions of the Northeast were still digging out from a nor'easter that dumped more than a foot of snow in some areas over the weekend.