Record snowfall buries Boston
A RECORD-BREAKING winter storm walloped the northeastern United States yesterday, burying Boston.
The city was forced to delay its Super Bowl victory parade and in the Chicago area more than 30 centimetres of snow fell.
The second big storm in less than a week brought snow, freezing rain and gusty winds, which pummelled residents from New York City to Boston, and was blamed for at least four deaths.
Boston, already blanketed by 60cm of snow from a blizzard last week and predicted to get another 30cm, set a record for the snowiest seven-day period in the city’s history. The 86.8cm measured dumping surpassed the 79.2cm set in January 1996.
Heavy snowfall expected to last until about midnight prompted Boston Mayor Marty Walsh to postpone by one day until today the parade to celebrate the New England Patriots’ 28-24 win over the Seattle Seahawks in the National Football League championship game.
The snow also delayed until today jury selection for the federal trial of accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
About 2900 flights were cancelled at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport, Boston Logan International Airport and New York’s LaGuardia Airport, according to Flightaware.com.
In the Boston suburb of Weymouth, a snow plough struck a woman, identified as Cynthia Levine, 57, as she walked through the parking lot of her condominium complex, killing her, police said.
The death of a dining hall worker at the University of Connecticut who spent overnight storm duty in a dormitory dining room also was linked to the weather.
Two other people were killed yesterday in a highway accident in Indiana, police said. They said hazardous road conditions caused by the storm may have been a contributing factor.
Snow and ice in New York City, where as much as 1cm of snow was forecast, caused a crowded subway train to stall on an ated stretch of track.
So many workers – 36 per cent
elev- of staff – failed to make it to Cook County Jail in Chicago that it was put on lockdown, limiting visi- tation for the typically housed Tom Dart said. 9000 inmates there, Sheriff