Long Island Weather: More Than 39,000 Power Outages, Severe Thunderstorm Watch in Effect Until 2 a.m.

8:30 a.m.: Long Island Socked by Powerful Storm, More Than 20,000 Power Outages Remain

12:48 a.m.: PSEG Long Island is now reporting that 39,053 of its customers are without power. See the PSEG outage map here.

11:35 p.m.: A severe thunderstorm warning is in effect for New York City and portions of Nassau County until 12:30 a.m. See the areas under the warning here. A flood advisory is also in effect in Nassau until 2:30 a.m.

Original story:

A strong line of thunderstorms with damaging wind gusts is making its way toward Long Island Wednesday night and more than 17,000 people have already lost power on the island.

The National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm watch for all of Long Island and New York City until 2 a.m. Thursday.

The NWS says: “There is the potential for damaging wind gusts late this evening into the overnight with a line of showers and thunderstorms along and ahead of a cold front. Localized flooding in also possible in areas of poor drainage and for those faster responding streams and small rivers.”

Tornado watches have been issued for many parts of New Jersey and the NWS says “a tornado or two is not out of the question” for Long Island, but at the moment, Long Island is just under a wind advisory until 4 a.m. Thursday. (If that changes, sign up here to get an alert in your inbox)

Winds are expected to gust up to 50 mph on Long Island (but conditions are “favorable” for gusts of up to 75 mph), which may lead to isolated power outages and create difficult driving conditions for high profile vehicles, the NWS says. As of 11:34 p.m., PSEG Long Island is reporting that more than 17,181 of its customers are without power. See the PSEG outage map here. To report a power outage, call 800-490-0075.

High winds caused a semi-trailer truck to flip over on the upper level of the George Washington Bridge Wednesday night.

Severe thunderstorms have plagued the East Coast from Florida to New York for much of the day and the storms, which brought heavy snow to the Midwest, have spawned tornadoes in several states, including Virginia, according to the National Weather Service.

In Virginia, three people, including a 2-year-old, were found dead during Wednesday’s storms, thrown 300 yards from their mobile home. The storm ripped through the small town of Waverly in the early afternoon, damaging several buildings.

In Pennsylvania, the storms have caused multiple buildings to collapse and emergency responders were battling several storm-related fires Wednesday night.

On Long Island, the rain is expected to end by sunrise and then the rest of Thursday will be partly sunny with a high near 52.

The weather is also causing some issues on the Long Island Rail Road.