Hurricane Lee fades, but 'life-threatening' surf persists for thousands of miles: Updates

More than 150,000 homes and businesses in Maine and eastern Canada were in the dark Sunday as wind gusts of up to 50 mph from the remnants of once-mighty Hurricane Lee buffeted the region.

Lee, once a Category 5 behemoth, has been downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone but still managed to sustain winds of 45 mph Sunday. The storm was centered about 70 miles west of Charlottetown on Canada's Prince Edward Island and was racing to the northeast at 22 mph.

Maine Gov. Janel Mills warned that high winds from the storm, combined with full canopy trees and saturated ground, meant downed trees would be a recurring problem. She urges residents to stay off the roads − and said those who must travel should avoid driving around downed trees or over downed wires and obey road closure signs and barriers

A 51-year-old Maine man died Saturday after a large tree limb fell on his vehicle on a highway in Searsport, about 110 miles northeast of Portland. The limb downed live power lines, and utility workers had to cut power before removing the man, who died at a hospital, Police Chief Brian Lunt said.

Lee makes landfall in Canada:Impacts felt in New England: Power outages, downed trees

Developments:

∎ Forecasters said coastal flooding would subside Sunday and the storm could dissipate completely on Tuesday.

∎ The hurricane center named a new storm Saturday night. Tropical Storm Nigel, more than 1,000 miles east of Bermuda, was forecast to gain hurricane strength Monday. Nigel was not forecast to hit the U.S., AccuWeather said.

'Life-threatening' surf for thousands of miles

Very little additional damaging rain was forecast from Lee's remnants. But swells generated by Lee continue to affect thousands of miles of the Atlantic Coast. Large swells were reported in Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Bahamas, Bermuda, the East Coast of the United States and Atlantic Canada, the hurricane center said."These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions," the center warned.

Hundreds of flights canceled because of Lee

Airport schedules in New England and Canada were beginning to normalize Sunday after Lee brought havoc to flying on Saturday. More than 230 flights into and out of Boston's Logan Airport were canceled and more than 100 delayed Saturday. Airports in Portland and Bangor, Maine, also had numerous delays and cancellations, as did Canadian airports in Toronto, Montreal and Halifax.

What's a post-tropical cyclone?

Lee completed its transition from a hurricane to a post-tropical cyclone Saturday morning, although it was still packing hurricane-force winds. A post-tropical cyclone is when a hurricane loses its tropical characteristics and becomes more "extra-tropical," associated with fronts and a larger wind field, said meteorologist Sara Johnson, with the National Weather Service in Gray/Portland, Maine. Post-tropical cyclones can still carry heavy winds and rains, the weather service says.

Destructive hurricanes are relatively rare for New England. The Great New England Hurricane of 1938 brought gusts as high as 186 mph and sustained winds of 121 mph at Massachusetts’ Blue Hill Observatory. But there have been no storms that powerful in recent years.

Contributing: Jeanine Santucci and Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA TODAY; The Associated Press