A newly-engaged woman was killed in front of her horrified fiance and family when a monster wave washed her away during severe flooding.
Pamela Nugent, 43, drowned while trying to flee her home with her dog in Highland Falls, New York.
Her body was later recovered from the bottom of a ravine.
Pamela has recently got engaged to her fiance Rob. In April she wrote on social media: "It’s official! Of course I said yes to Rob’s beautiful proposal at the New York Botanical Garden. So grateful to have such a smart, funny, and loving man by my side."
Her neighbour Jessica Eshleman was caught up in the flooding as well. She told ABC7: "I'm still kind of in shock. I lost everything."
She watched as Pamela, her fiancée and her dad were trying to get to higher ground.
Ms Eshleman added: "And then they made it across, and I guess she freaked out and panicked, she tried to make it across with the dog, it just happened too suddenly."
Governor Kathy Hochul said at a news conference Monday: "Her house was taking too much water, she was with her dog and her fiancé literally saw her swept away."
The flash flooding dislodged boulders that rammed into Pamela's house and damaged part of its wall, Orange County Executive Steven Neuhaus said.
“She was trying to get through (the flooding) with her dog,” Neuhaus said, “and she was overwhelmed by tidal wave-type waves.”
Another of Pamela's neighbours said: "When anybody dies, it's a shame. The circumstances of how it happened, that makes it even worse."
Devastating floods have hit the East Coast in the past few days with more expected to swamp areas of Vermont.
The US Military Academy at West Point was pounded with more than 8 inches (20.32 centimetres) of rain that sent debris sliding onto some roads and washed others out.
Officials say the storm has already wrought tens of millions of dollars in damage.
“Nine inches of rain in this community,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said during a briefing on a muddy street in Highland Falls. “They’re calling this a ‘1,000 year event.’”
As of Monday evening, several washed-out streets in Highland Falls remained impassable, leaving some residents stuck in their homes, according to Police Chief Frank Basile.
The village police station itself was full of mud and leaves after being flooded with about five inches (13 centimetres) of water, Chief Basile said.
Atmospheric scientists say destructive flooding events are spurred by storms forming in a warmer atmosphere, making extreme rainfall a reality. Additional warming that scientists predict is coming will only make it worse.
Vermont is braced for more downpours and flooding on Tuesday after persistent heavy rains drenched the state and other parts of the Northeast, unleashing fast-moving waters that washed out roads, trapped residents in their homes and disrupted travel.
There have been no reports of injuries or deaths related to the flooding in Vermont, according to emergency officials. But dozens of roads were closed, including many along the spine of the Green Mountains.
And the National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings and advisories for much of the state from the Massachusetts line north to the Canadian border.
