WATCH: Major storms bring snow, rain and tornadoes to millions
Heavy flooding rain and gusty winds are pummeling residents from Boston through Washington, D.C. -- but that isn't stopping Boston Marathon runners today.
As the race began in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, this morning, the temperature was a chilly 40 degrees with a wind chill of 29 degrees, and wind gusts reached 30 mph.
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Mamitu Daska (ETH) during the 2018 Boston Marathon, April 16, 2018 in Boston.
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Qixiang Zhou, left, of China, leads a pack of runners during the 122nd Boston Marathon, April 16, 2018, in Boston.
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Wearing a plastic poncho, Manuel Gonzalez (9300), from Illinois, reaches out for a high-five just after crossing the starting line during the 122nd running of the Boston Marathon, April 16, 2018.
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Desiree Linden, of Washington, Mich., wins the women's division of the 122nd Boston Marathon, April 16, 2018, in Boston. She is the first American woman to win the race since 1985.
The rain is expected to get much heavier there this afternoon.
Deadly spring storm moving through Northeast after leveling homes in Southeast
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Runners wait under a tent at the athlete's village for the start of the the 122nd Boston Marathon, April 16, 2018, in Hopkinton, Mass.
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Bicycle-mounted police officers patrol at the finish line before the 122nd Boston Marathon, April 16, 2018, in Boston.
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The elite female runners break from the starting line in a downpour during the 122nd running of the Boston Marathon in Hopkinton, Mass., April 16, 2018.
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ATF K-9 units cross the start line during a security patrol before the start of the 122nd running of the Boston Marathon in Hopkinton, Mass., April 16, 2018.
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Connor Buchholz, 25, of Toledo, Ohio, waits under a tent beside ice crystals that accumulated at the athlete's village before the start of the the 122nd Boston Marathon, April 16, 2018, in Hopkinton, Mass.
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Yuki Kawauchi, of Japan, wins the 122nd Boston Marathon, April 16, 2018, in Boston. He is the first Japanese man to win the race since 1987.
Today's marathon comes one day after the five-year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing.
The April 15, 2013, attack killed three marathon spectators and injured over 200 others. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer was also killed by one of the attackers.
"Without the heroes that day could have been so much worse than it was," Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said Sunday. "And the heroes represented in many respects the very best of Boston, the very best of the Commonwealth and the very best of mankind."
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Boston Marathon Bombing victim Jeff Bauman, center, who lost both of his legs from the explosion walks past Marathon Sports at 671 Boylston St., the location of the first explosion, during a memorial ceremony on the fifth anniversary of the Boston Marathon Bombing, Boston April 15, 2018.
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Christopher Nzenwa wipes tears away after praying at a memorial outside of Marathon Sports at 671 Boylston St., the location of the first explosion, during a memorial ceremony on the fifth anniversary of the Boston Marathon Bombing in Boston, April 15, 2018.
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The father of Lingzi Lu, Jun Lu, second from right, and her aunt Helen Zhao, right, observe a moment of silence with the family of Martin Richard, foreground from left, Bill, Jane, Henry and Denise, center, during a ceremony at the site where Martin Richard and Lingzi Lu were killed in the second explosion at the 2013 Boston Marathon, April 15, 2018, in Boston.
"The heroes won," Baker said. However "for those people who lost someone that day or in the subsequent days of the evens that surrounded the incidents themselves, that is pretty cold comfort. What I would say to them, having had a chance to watch them do all they can to find purpose and hope and possibility in the wreckage of the events of that day, you are heroes.
"And the same goes for those people who were damaged by the events of that day who have found a positive path forward and a way to build a new life. A different one, but a good one, on the heels of that tragedy," Baker said.
ABC News' Daniel Manzo contributed to this report.