Tropical Storm Henri slammed into the US east coast last night, bringing lashing rain, powerful winds and a deadly surge off the Atlantic.

The storm made landfall in the state of Rhode Island at lunchtime local time with top winds of 95kmh. It drove a wall of water ashore, flooding the coastline. The region is bracing for widespread power outages as the winds toss trees into power lines.

Henri is the latest in a grim parade of extreme weather events worldwide as climate change takes hold. Massive wildfires have blackened huge swathes of California, Greece, Algeria and Siberia, sending smoke over the North Pole for the first time on record. July was the hottest month ever recorded on Earth.

It is the fifth storm to hit the US in 2021 and the eighth to form in the Atlantic. Henri is expected to linger across southern New England, bringing as much as 15cm of rain to a landscape that has been drenched by weeks of downpours, which could make flooding worse. It will then sweep across southern Maine and head for the Canadian Maritimes.

Flooding has already been reported across northeastern US, disrupting transportation. Amtrak cancelled trains between New York and Boston. Some subway tunnels were inundated in New York City. And about 1,000 flights were cancelled, mostly in Boston and Newark, New Jersey.

When the storm came ashore, nearly 100,000 homes and businesses were already without power in Rhode Island and Connecticut.

As early as yesterday morning, Henri was still a hurricane, with top winds of 120kmh. But it lost power on its final approach.

“It didn’t come in as ferocious as predicted,” said Jim Rouiller, lead meteorologist at the Energy Weather Group. “I was expecting a bit more out of it but it really hasn’t materialised.”

A continental storm coming across Pennsylvania seems to have sapped some of Henri’s energy and moisture, Mr Rouiller said. It also helped slow Henri down as it crossed an area of cooler water that robbed it of its strength.

Hurricanes and tropical storms depend on warm ocean water to build power and maintain strength. The cooler water has just the opposite effect and that could mean that the feared flooding and power outage won’t be as bad.

But flooding could still be severe, and officials braced for the worst.

Outgoing New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Saturday declared a state of emergency, and thousands of residents and holiday-makers evacuated beach communities – or in some cases, opted to hunker down. A mandatory evacuation order was issued for some residents nearest the coast in Madison, Connecticut.

President Joe Biden approved emergency declarations for Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York and ordered federal assistance.

A huge free concert in Manhattan’s Central Park was shut down by a light rain that turned into a downpour on Saturday night, sending thousands of music fans streaming for the exits in the middle of a performance by Barry Manilow. He continued to sing for a while even after his audio was cut off.

Henri is unlikely to produce anywhere near the $77bn in damages that Superstorm Sandy caused in 2012, but it poses a significant threat to transport and power networks, and is set to unleash potentially deadly storm surges.

Meanwhile, in a separate weather event, dozens of people are still missing and at least 10 people are dead after record-breaking rain sent floodwaters surging through central Tennessee.

Among the dead were twin toddlers who were swept from their father’s arms.

The flooding in rural areas took out roads, phone towers and phone lines, leaving families uncertain if their loved ones survived.

Emergency workers were last night searching for the missing door to door among the wreckage of homes.

Up to 43cm of rain fell in less than 24 hours on Saturday, shattering the Tennessee record for one-day rainfall by more than 8cm.