Memorial Day washout as thousands lose power after Tropical Storm Beryl becomes strongest May cyclone to hit in more than a century

As Tropical Storm Beryl moves across the Atlantic, tens of thousands of people were left without power as beach vacations and some Memorial Day remembrance services were drenched.

Though winds raged to 70mph soon after it hit, they later died down to about 35 mph, leading forecasters to downgrade the storm to a tropical depression and cancel all warnings and watches less than 11 hours after it made land in southern Georgia and northern Florida.

Joyce Connolly and her daughters left their home in Hurricane, West Virginia, to head south for a Memorial Day beach vacation — and ended up in the center of Tropical Storm Beryl.

While it left little damage after sweeping ashore with 70mph winds after midnight on Monday at Jacksonville, Florida, the storm still wrecked much of Connolly's trip. Read More