A motorist drives under downed pine trees that are resting on power lines in Freeport, Maine, Monday, Oct. 30, 2017. A strong wind storm has caused widespread power outages. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

The Latest on a severe storm packing heavy rain and high wind sweeping through the Northeast (all times local):

11:10 p.m.

A powerful storm that knocked out power to homes and businesses across the Northeast has created a slumber party of sorts at the University of Maine.

The state's flagship university evacuated some student dorms Monday because of power outages, and hundreds of students were relocated to the student recreation centre or union for shelter.

Nineteen-year-old sophomore Rebecca Janssen tells the Bangor Daily News that it was "survival of the fittest" because sleeping spots were first come, first served.

Classes were cancelled Monday, but were scheduled to resume Tuesday.

More than 1.2 million homes and business were still without power late Monday night. Utilities have warned that power could be out for days.

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8:10 p.m.

New England residents still without power this week may want to bundle up.

The National Weather Service says temperatures in the region will stay close to normal Monday night, but will fall to near freezing Tuesday night.

The weather service predicts temperatures in Hartford, Connecticut, and Providence, Rhode Island, will be in the mid-to-upper 40s overnight Monday, with temperatures in the 30s Tuesday night.

Similar temperatures have been forecast for Augusta, Maine, Montpelier, Vermont, and Concord, New Hampshire.

Massachusetts emergency officials say overnight temperatures will be in the mid-30s to low 40s through midweek.

More than 1.2 million homes and business were still without power late Monday afternoon after a massive storm pounded the Northeast region. Utilities have warned that power could be out for days.

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6:20 p.m.

Cities and towns in New England have pushed back Halloween festivities to as late as next Sunday due to damage and power outages from a severe storm affecting the Northeast.

Police in the Massachusetts communities of Chelmsford, Dracut and Lowell say trick-or-treating will be rescheduled from Halloween night, on Tuesday, to Friday night. Tyngsboro moved it to Sunday night.

Officials in Ledyard, Connecticut, say trick-or-treating has been moved to Friday.

The New Hampshire town of Merrimack says trick-or-treating has been postponed until Wednesday.

Officials in Providence, Rhode Island, are encouraging residents still without power Tuesday night to avoid trick-or-treating.

Officials expressed safety concerns after the storm caused power outages and downed electrical wires and tree branches Sunday night and Monday morning.

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6:10 p.m.

A New Hampshire home has been swept away by choppy waters caused by severe weather conditions affecting the Northeast.

The one-story home in Warren fell into the Baker River. Video shows it sailing downstream and crashing into a bridge. The home then crumbles into the water Monday.

The Boston Globe reports the person who took the video, Thomas Babbit, says the river swelled after the storm and started to eat away at land surrounding the home. Babbit says the homeowners were not on the property at the time.

New Hampshire emergency officials say most areas saw 2 to 3 inches of rain during the storm and some pockets got more than 5 inches.

Electricity is slowly being restored, but more than 1.2 million homes and businesses are still without power in the Northeast after severe weather brought high winds and heavy rains through the region

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4:15 p.m.

Electricity is slowly being restored, but more than 1.2 million homes and businesses are still without power in the Northeast after severe weather brought high winds and heavy rains through the region.

That number is according to a tally of outages from utility companies in more than a half-dozen states.

National Grid says crews are responding to widespread power outages due to extensive tree damage and branches coming down on power lines.

Republican Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker says power restoration will not be "a one-day thing."

Maine was hit hard, with more than 490,000 homes and businesses losing electricity, surpassing the peak number from an infamous 1998 ice storm.

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This item has been corrected to show 1.2 million homes and businesses, not people, were without power.

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3:50 p.m.

Emergency management officials in New Hampshire say a massive storm has left up to 450,000 residents without power and produced wind gusts of 78 mph.

Emergency Management Director Perry Plummer says the outage was the state's fourth largest.

Most areas also saw 2 to 3 inches of rain, and some pockets got more than 5 inches.

He says no serious injuries have been reported, but branches and trees buffeted by strong winds still were falling Monday.

Plummer said outages are being addressed as quickly as possible, but it may take days for power to be restored to all areas.

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3:30 p.m.

Vermont's governor is warning that the storm is not over and more high winds are in the forecast that could cause additional outages and flooding after an overnight storm knocked out power to about 70,000 homes and businesses.

Republican Gov. Phil Scott says the state is working with Red Cross to open shelters if needed. He encouraged Vermonters who need a place to stay to call 211.

Utility officials say it could be several days for power to be fully restored, possibly into the weekend in some spots.

They are warning residents to stay away from and not drive over downed power lines and to only use generators outdoors. They also urge Vermonters to check on their neighbours, particularly the elderly and those with special needs.

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2:45 p.m.

With much of the area without power, word quickly spread around Plainfield, Vermont, that the convenience store in town was serving coffee.

Maplefields is known around town as Tim's convenience store. It used a propane stove to boil water Monday to make coffee for customers in the darkened store.

Alice Merrill stopped in after failing to get ground coffee from the local food co-operative to make on her gas stove, which was closed.

Richard Warmann was pleased to find coffee at the store. He said he was happy his chiropractic office was already closed Monday.

The violent storm that lashed the Northeast with high winds and driving rain overnight left about 1.5 million customers across the region without electricity

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2:25 p.m.

Maine's governor has issued a state of emergency proclamation as the state grapples with a powerful wind and rain storm that caused widespread power outages.

Nearly a half-million Maine homes and business were without power Monday afternoon, surpassing the peak outage number from an infamous 1998 ice storm.

Republican Gov. Paul LePage says the proclamation will give utilities the flexibility they need to restore power.

The violent storm that lashed the Northeast overnight left more than 1.5 million customers across the region without electricity.

Customers are being warned it could take a week to restore power.

The Portland International Jetport had recorded a peak wind gust of 69 mph.

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1:30 p.m.

The number of homes and businesses in the dark in Maine has surpassed the peak number from an infamous 1998 ice storm.

More than 480,000 Maine homes and businesses were in the dark n Monday afternoon after a storm ripped across the Northeast overnight. More than 1.5 million customers were without power throughout the region.

Central Maine Power, the state's largest utility, said its 391,000 outages surpassed the peak of 345,000 homes and businesses without power during the ice storm. CMP spokesman John Carroll said 200 crews are working and more are on the way from other states. Customers are being warned it could take a week to restore power.

The Portland International Jetport had recorded a peak wind gust of 69 mph in the storm.

The winds knocked down trees and power lines in several states, forcing scores of schools to close.

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12:30 p.m.

Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo has visited Warwick, where wind gusts of 80 mph (129 kilometres per hour) were recorded during an overnight storm.

The Democratic governor says Monday many schools were closed throughout the state because of power outages, and there were minor car accidents overnight, but power had been restored to two hospitals that lost it.

More than 1.2 million customers in the Northeast lost power due to the severe storm.

Raimondo encouraged residents to stay off the roads, if possible, while downed power lines and trees were cleared.

Michael Moriarty came outside his house with his granddaughter when he saw Raimondo and Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian looking at a downed tree in his yard. Moriarty said he was lucky that the tree missed his house. Less than a half mile away, a fallen tree lay across two cars at a used car lot.

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12 p.m.

More than 470,000 homes and businesses have lost power in Maine, where it could be a week before some people get their lights back on following a powerful wind and rain storm.

The numbers are reminiscent of the great ice storm of 1998, which left 700,000 people without power, some for longer than a week.

The Portland airport recorded a peak wind gust of 69 mph in the storm.

Central Maine Power said Monday the hardest hit counties are York, Cumberland, Kennebec, and Androscoggin.

Some stoplights aren't functional, making for treacherous driving. Other streets are flooded. Numerous schools were cancelled for Monday. Others were delayed.

The Amtrak Downeaster service cancelled a morning run due to downed trees on the tracks.

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11 a.m.

Brookline, Massachusetts, resident Helene Dunlap says she heard a loud "kaboom" in the middle of the night at the height of the storm and the power went out. She went outside hours later to find a large tree had fallen on the home just steps from hers.

She is among more than 1.2 million customers who lost power as a severe storm swept through the Northeast early Monday. Hundreds of schools across New England are closed.

Kathleen Buccheri, of Glastonbury, Connecticut, lost power and couldn't make coffee Monday.

In Malden, Massachusetts, Mark Guenard says two large red oak trees across the street from his house were uprooted and cracked his concrete steps and damaged a stone retaining wall. They also flattened the roof of a neighbour's car.

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9:50 a.m.

The storm that tore across the Northeast overnight brought high winds to much of the region, and once again, the Mount Washington Observatory in New Hampshire may have experienced the worst of it.

The observatory, site of some of the world's worst weather, says it recorded a 130 mph (209 kilometres per hour) wind gust during the storm. Mount Washington, the highest peak in the Northeastern U.S. at more than 6,200 feet (1,900 metres), once held the world record for the fastest wind gust at 231 mph (372 kph) in 1934.

The National Weather Service says a gust of 82 mph (131 kph) was recorded in Mashpee on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, with sustained winds of about 50 mph (80 kph) in many areas.

The winds brought down tree limbs and power lines that knocked out power to hundreds of thousands and snarled the morning commute.

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9:20 a.m.

Hundreds of thousands of customers have been left without power after a storm brought high winds and heavy rains to southern New England.

Electric utilities National Grid and Eversource combined were reporting more than 300,000 customers without power in Massachusetts as of about 7 a.m. Monday.

About 152,000 Eversource customers were without power in Connecticut, while United Illuminating reported about 5,700 customers in the dark.

National Grid had more than 140,000 customers without power in Rhode Island.

The weather prompted dozens of schools to cancel classes or delay the start of school.

The storm's aftermath caused delays and cancellations on the commuter rail near Boston, while floods closed roads. A portion of Memorial Drive in Cambridge, Massachusetts was closed by floods. In Vernon, Connecticut, the intersection of routes 74 and 31 was closed because of downed wires.

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7:30 a.m.

A severe storm has caused over 260,000 power outages and forced the closure of hundreds of school districts in New Hampshire.

In addition to the school closures Monday, a number of others delayed opening. The state's Emergency Operations Center opened at midnight and officials were monitoring several rivers for the potential of flooding.

There were numerous reports of trees down on homes, roads and cars from the overnight storm, which carried wind gusts over 60 mph. There was no immediate word on injuries.

Winds were expected to remain strong Monday afternoon. Utility officials said that would likely slow their response for restoring power.

The last time New Hampshire had this many power outages was a pre-Thanksgiving Day storm in 2014, which wiped out electricity to more than 200,000 customers.

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6:30 a.m.

The rain that soaked Pennsylvania is ending, however strong winds that downed trees and power lines remain a problem.

Nearly 22,000 homes and businesses are without electricity Monday, mainly in the central part of the state. Downed trees are mostly to blame.

The National Weather Service says west winds of 15 to 25 mph (24 kph to 40 kph) could gust to 50 mph (80 kph) before decreasing around midday.

A flash flood watch is in effect for Lycoming, Sullivan, and Tioga through Monday morning.

Smaller streams and creeks are most susceptible to flash flooding and may spill out of their banks into adjacent fields.

Additional localized flooding of poor drainage and low-lying areas is likely especially where leaves have blocked storm drains.

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6 a.m.

A severe storm has caused power outages and street flooding across New Jersey.

There are 22,336 homes and businesses without electricity on Monday. Most are Jersey Central Power and Light customers.

Forecasters say the heavy downpours that soaked the state on Sunday are ending Monday. However, strong winds that downed trees and power lines will persist through part of the day.

The National Weather Service says west winds of 15 to 25 mph (24 kph to 40 kph) could gust to 50 mph (80 kph) before decreasing around midday.

NJ Transit says Newark Light Rail service is temporarily suspended in both directions between Orange Street and Bloomfield Avenue due to flooding.

The River Line has resumed service between the Walter Rand Transportation Center and Waterfront Entertainment Complex following earlier flooding.

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2 a.m.

Thousands of people in the Northeast were without power early Monday as severe weather pounded the region.

Southern New England appeared to be suffering the brunt of the storm damage overnight.

Eversource reported more than 150,000 Connecticut customers without power around 2 a.m. Monday. National Grid also reported more than 130,000 customers without power in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

National Weather Service meteorologist Joe Dellicarpini says there have been reports of downed trees and power lines around the region.

He says parts of Rhode Island and Massachusetts have seen wind gusts of up to 70 mph or more.

The storm is expected to continue through the early morning hours Monday in southern New England before moving north.

News from © The Associated Press, 2017