A storm that brought high winds and heavy rains slammed swaths of the Northeast on Thursday, claiming the life of a priest in Northern New York, flooding roads and leaving hundreds of thousands without power, officials said.

As of Saturday morning, more than 241,000 buildings and homes in New York were without electricity, and nearly 60 roads were closed, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s office said. The governor declared states of emergency for 12 New York counties, many of them in the North Country.

The storm struck parts of Western New York Thursday and moved across northern parts of the state into Friday, with gusts of up to 70 miles per hour, leaving a wake of flooded roadways and power losses.

Two-hundred members of the National Guard and 5,000 power company workers were dispatched to help.

“These situations can be a matter of life and death, and I am urging all New Yorkers to exercise extreme caution and only travel if necessary,” Mr. Cuomo said in a news release.