Blizzard cripples US East Coast

PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island— New Englanders began the backbreaking job of digging out from as much as a meter (3 feet) of snow and emergency crews used snowmobiles to reach shivering motorists stranded overnight on New York’s Long Island after a howling storm swept through the Northeast.

At least eight deaths were blamed on the storm, including three in Canada, according to The Associated Press. Reuters reported nine deaths, all in the United States.

About 475,000 homes and businesses remained without power late on Saturday night, down from a peak of about 650,000, and some could be cold and dark for days. Roads across the New York-to-Boston corridor of roughly 25 million people were impassable. Cars were entombed by drifts.

Some people found the wet, heavy snow packed so high against their homes they couldn’t get their doors open. “It’s like lifting cement. They

say it’s 2 ft but I think it’s more like 3 ft,” said Michael Levesque, who was shoveling snow in Quincy, Massachusetts, for a landscaping company.

In Providence, where the drifts were 1.5 meters (5 ft) high and telephone lines encrusted with ice and snow drooped under the weight, Jason Harrison labored for nearly three hours to clear his blocked driveway and front walk and still had more work to do. His snowblower, he said, “has already paid for itself.”

At least five deaths were blamed on the overnight snowstorm, including an 11-year-old boy in Boston who was overcome by carbon monoxide as he sat in a running car to keep warm while his father shoveled on Saturday morning.

Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee cautioned that while the snow had stopped, the danger hadn’t passed: “People need to take this storm seriously, even after it’s over. If you have any kind of heart condition, be careful with the shoveling.”

Blowing with hurricane-force winds of more than 128 kilometers per hour (80 miles per hour) in places, the storm hit hard along the heavily populated Interstate 95 corridor between New York City and Maine. Milford, Connecticut, got 96 centimeters (38 inches) of snow, and Portland, Maine, recorded 81 cm (31.9 inches), shattering a 1979 record. Several communities in New York and across New England got more than 0.61 meters (2 ft).

Still, the storm was not as bad as some of the forecasts led many to fear and not as dire as the Blizzard of 1978, used by longtime New Englan- ders as the benchmark by which all other winter storms are measured.

NY ‘dodged a bullet’

In New York, where Central Park recorded 28 cm (11 inches), not even enough to make the top 10 list, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city “dodged a bullet” and its streets were “in great shape.”

The three major airports—LaGuardia, Kennedy and Newark, New Jersey—were up and running by late morning after shutting down the evening before.

Most of the power outages were in Massachusetts, where more than 400,000 homes and businesses were left in the dark. In Rhode Island, a peak of around 180,000 customers lost power, or about one-third of the state.

By nightfall, utility crews had started to make significant progress in restoring power and bringing those numbers down.

Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island imposed travel bans until 4 p.m. to keep cars off the road and let plows do their work, and the National Guard helped clear highways in Connecticut, where more than 240 auto accidents were reported. Guardsmen rescued about 90 motorists, including a few who had hypothermia and were taken to hospitals.

On Long Island, which got more than 0.76 m (2.5 ft) of snow, hundreds of drivers spent a cold and scary night stuck on the highways. Even snowplows got bogged down or were blocked by stuck cars, so emergency workers used snowmobiles to try to reach motorists, many of whom were still waiting to be rescued hours after the snow had stopped.

One of those who was rescued, Priscilla Arena, prayed as she waited, took out a sheet of loose-leaf paper and wrote what she thought might be her last words to her husband and children, aged 5 and 9. Among her advice: “Remember all the things that mommy taught you. Never say you hate someone you love.”

Sandy’s victims spared

Around the New York metropolitan area, many victims of Superstorm “Sandy” were mercifully spared another round of flooding, property damage and power failures.

“I was very lucky and I never even lost power,” said Susan Kelly of Bayville. “We were dry as anything. My new roof was fantastic. Other than digging out, this storm was a nice storm.” As for the shoveling, “I got two hours of exercise.”

At New York’s Fashion Week, women tottered on 10.16-centimeter (4-inch) heels through the snow to get to the tents to see designers’ newest collections.

Across much of New England, streets were empty of cars and dotted instead with children who had never seen so much snow and were jumping into snow banks and making forts. Snow was waist-high in the streets of Boston. Plows made some thoroughfares passable but piled even more snow on cars parked on the city’s narrow streets.

Boston’s Logan Airport was not expected to resume operations until late on Saturday night.

In Massachusetts, the National Guard and Worcester emergency workers teamed up to deliver a baby at the height of the storm at the family’s home. Everyone was fine.