NEW YORK (AP) — Soaking rains that spawned numerous flood warnings pushed some streams and creeks over their banks throughout the Northeast, yet the first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season sped up the Eastern Seaboard without causing major damage.

Andrea was centred west of Cape Cod on Saturday morning, with winds of 45 mph, and flood warnings were in effect for parts of New England. The storm was expected to reach Canadian waters by Sunday.

After bringing rain, strong winds and tornadoes to Florida, Andrea lost most of its tropical characteristics late Friday into Saturday. The storm was packing winds that gusted between 20 to 30 mph, and officials warned of near gale force from New Jersey to Canada through Sunday.

Andrea brought record rainfall for the date to Pennsylvania and shattered a century-old record in Philadelphia. The storm dumped 3.5 inches of rain at Philadelphia International Airport, eclipsing the previous June 7 record of 1.79 inches set in 1904. The 1.82 inches recorded at Lehigh Valley International Airport near Allentown was also a record for the date, far above the 1.19 inches set in 1948.

The storm was blamed for one traffic-related death in Virginia.

Late Friday, the National Hurricane Centre in Miami discontinued all tropical storm warnings but cautioned about possible coastal and localised flooding from New Jersey to New England.

Dean Iovino, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mount Laurel, New Jersey said Saturday that the storm could drop 3-to-5 inches of rain in areas from New Jersey into New England before tapering off.

Officials in the Mid-Atlantic region and Northeast had prepared for it Friday night. New York City activated its flash flooding plan, and heavy rainfall resulted in flash floods, causing some sections of roadways to be closed throughout Long Island.

A number of roads were flooded in the Boston area. A flight that left Boston on Friday night headed to Palm Beach, Florida, was diverted to Newark Liberty International Airport after being struck by lightning. No one was injured.

The weather service reported that small streams and creeks in southeastern Pennsylvania were going over their banks Friday night. New York City’s airports experienced flight delays, and Connecticut reported numerous lane closures on highway as cars spun out amid heavy rain.

The rainy weather washed out events such as NASCAR’s Sprint Cup qualifying in Pennsylvania’s Poconos and MLB games in Washington, New York and Boston.

The heavy rain from the storm’s outer bands was being blamed by authorities in Virginia for a fatal accident on Interstate 77 in the state’s western mountains. William Petty, 57, of Lexington, South Carolina died after a car in which he was a passenger hydroplaned while passing a tractor-trailer. He survived the crash, only to be killed moments later when the car was struck by a second tractor-trailer, authorities said.