Winter blast wallops northeastern US
UNITED STATES: The fiercest snowstorm of the northern winter slammed the northeastern United States yesterday, leaving 30 centimetres of snow in places, cancelling thousands of flights and shutting down schools, a day after temperatures had been a springlike 10 to 16 degrees C.
The storm had wind gusts of up to 80kmh and left roads and sidewalks dangerously slick in densely populated cities such as New York, Boston and Hartford, Connecticut. New York received about a foot of snow, while Boston was braced for up to 20 inches. At least two deaths were blamed on the storm.
The winds reached as far south as Virginia, where a truck driver died after his tractor-trailer was blown off the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-tunnel, Tom Anderson, the facility’s deputy director, said.
A New York City doorman died while shovelling snow as he slipped and fell down a flight of stairs, crashing into a window that cut his neck, police reported.
Some areas experienced ‘‘thunder snow’’, violent bursts of weather featuring both snow and lightning.
Nearly two-thirds of the flights into or out of the three major New York-area airports were cancelled, as were 69 per cent of those at Boston Logan International Airport. Nationwide, about 4000 flights were canceled and 5700 delayed.
‘‘The roads are dangerous,’’ New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said. ’’I don’t care if you have a four-wheel-drive car and you think you’re a superhero ... if you don’t have to be out, don’t be out.’’ - Reuters, AP