Severe nor’easter slams East Coast
BOSTON — Residents along the East Coast on Friday battened down as heavy rain and gusting winds pummeled states from Maine to North Carolina.
The nor’easter was predicted to bring damaging winds — up to hurricane strength in some areas — along the Atlantic through Friday, according to the National Weather Service, which issued numerous severe-weather warnings and advisories lasting into Saturday.
Throughout the day Friday, hundreds of scheduled flights out of New York, Boston and Washington airports had been delayed or canceled. Amtrak said power outages were affecting its Northeast Corridor train service; it suspended service at midday.
Portions of New York state saw more than a foot of snow Thursday night. In upstate New York, Syracuse University canceled a full day of classes because of snow for only the second time in its history.
Meanwhile, heavy rain was predicted for coastal areas from New Jersey to eastern Massachusetts, the weather service said, as it warned of coastal and inland flooding.
“Widespread high wind speeds will persist through the late morning and afternoon hours today as the system moves offshore the East Coast,” the weather service said. “Inland flooding from excessive rainfall and coastal flooding from high seas/storm surge will impact much of the area from New Jersey to Massachusetts.”
Massachusetts Repuglican Gov. Charlie Baker warned residents Thursday night that the storm was shaping up to be more severe than the “bomb cyclone” that caused massive flooding in the state’s shoreline communities on Jan. 4.
“If you live in an area that is told to evacuate, we strongly encourage you do so first thing Friday AM,” Baker tweeted Thursday night. “Staying in homes that are in flood prone areas puts you & first responders at risk.”
On Friday, the winds in Boston kept people fighting with their umbrellas; most decided it wasn’t worth the fight and just pulled their hoods closer. A woman walking and texting in front of the John F. Kennedy Federal Building on New Sudbury Street almost lost her blue-flowered umbrella and her balance to a particularly strong gust. Despite the weather, some die-hard bikers still peddled to work, and a couple even kept to their morning jog.
It was a terrible day to be a Boston tourist. The courtyard of Faneuil Hall was deserted, and many of the city’s biggest attractions were closed.
Michael Thompson of Arlington, Mass., had made it all the way to the vast doors of the New England Aquarium with his wife, their daughter and three grandchildren from New Hampshire — before realizing it wasn’t open. Water from Boston Harbor lapped against the edge of the aquarium’s Imax theater with every gust of wind.
“Now, we’ll have to check on the Children’s Museum,” Thompson told his soaked clan. But that museum was closed, too. He suggested the Museum of Fine Arts next, but was overruled by 6-year-old Aubrey Roberts, who preferred a play space near her grandparents’ house: “Let’s go!”
Hopeful visitors kept turning up at the aquarium, only to be disappointed. Its nearby garage had sandbagged its entrances.