Storm wallops East Coast, with record cold to follow
HARTFORD, CONN.» A massive winter storm roared into the East Coast on Thursday, dumping as much as 17 inches of snow in some areas and unleashing hurricane-force winds and historic flooding that closed schools and offices and halted transportation from the Carolinas to Maine.
Forecasters expected the storm to be followed immediately by a blast of face-stinging cold that could break records in more than two dozen cities and bring wind chills as low as minus 40 degrees this weekend.
Blizzard warnings and states of emergency were in wide effect, and wind gusts hit more than 70 mph in places. In parts of New England, snow fell as fast as 3 inches per hour.
Four people were killed in North and South Carolina after their vehicles ran off snow-covered roads, authorities said. Another fatality was reported near Philadelphia when a car could not stop at the bottom of a steep, snow-covered hill and slammed into a commuter train. A passenger in the vehicle was killed. No one on the train was hurt.
In New Jersey, Orlando Igmat’s car got stuck in a snowbank along the Garden State Parkway in Tinton Falls as he drove to work at Verizon. He waited a half hour for a tow truck to pull him out.
“I didn’t expect (the storm) was going to be a heavy one. That’s why I went to work today. I’m going to stay in a hotel tonight,” he said.
More than 100,000 homes and businesses lost power at some point Thursday. While many outages were restored by the day’s end, officials from the mid-Atlantic to New England warned those numbers might climb again.
In New England, the powerful winds brought coastal flooding that reached historic levels in areas. The frigid waters overwhelmed fishing piers, streets and restaurants, and stranded people in homes and cars.
In Portland, Maine, the high tide nearly matched the 14.17feet reported during the infamous Blizzard of 1978.
In Boston, icy harbor waters poured into downtown streets near popular tourist and business areas. The National Weather Service said the waters reached “within a few tenths of an inch” of record levels and local officials across coastal Massachusetts braced for further tidal surges.