RALEIGH, N.C. — Tropical Depression Fred has blown into the northeastern U.S. as a post-tropical cyclone, unleashing heavy rains and threatening mudslides and flash floods in upstate New York.

Fred closed interstate highways in the lower Appalachians, and the National Weather Service says tornadoes are still possible as the storm moves northeast.

As many as 14 possible tornadoes were reported across Georgia and the Carolinas.

According to the Raleigh News & Observer, 35 people are unaccounted following severe flooding in western North Carolina. The publication says officials report that homes and cars have been destroyed, and roads were washed away.

Thousands were without power, most of them in West Virginia and North Carolina.

Meanwhile, Grace has become a hurricane near the Cayman Islands and is moving toward Mexico's Yucatan peninsula.