Northeast tries to dig out, power up after latest blizzard
HARTFORD, Conn. — Residents in the Northeast dug out from as much as 2 feet of wet, heavy snow Thursday, while utilities dealt with downed trees and power lines that snarled traffic and left hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in the dark after two strong nor’easters — all with the possibility of another storm headed to the area.
With many schools closed for a second day, forecasters tracked the possibility of another lateseason snowstorm to run up the coast early next week.
“The strength of it and how close it comes to the coast will make all the difference. At this point it’s too early to say,” said Jim Nodchey, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Massachusetts. “We’re just looking at a chance.”
At least two deaths were blamed on the storm.
Snow still was falling Thursday in places including Vermont, where storm warnings were in effect until the evening.
More than 800,000 customers were without power in the Northeast, including some who have been without electricity since last Friday’s destructive nor’easter.
Thousands of flights across the region were canceled.
A train carrying more than 100 passengers derailed in Wilmington, Mass., after a fallen tree branch got wedged in a rail switch. Nobody was hurt. Tory Mazzola, a spokesman for Keolis Commuter Services, which runs the system for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, said the low-speed derailment remains under investigation.
In New Hampshire, Interstate 95 in Portsmouth was closed in both directions because of downed power lines.
Amtrak restored modified service between New York City and Boston on Thursday after suspending it because of the storm. New York City’s MetroNorth commuter railroad restored partial service Thursday.
The Mount Snow ski area in Dover, Vt., received 31 inches of snow by Thursday morning with more still falling. The resort said the snowfall from the past two storms would set it up for skiing through the middle of April.
Montville, N.J., got more than 26 inches from Wednesday’s nor’easter. North Adams, Mass., registered 24 inches, and Sloatsburg, N.Y., got 26 inches.
In New Jersey, the state’s major utilities reported more than 247,000 customers without power a day after the storm.
An 88-year-old woman in the New York City suburb of Suffern was crushed to death by a tree that fell as she shoveled snow Wednesday, and a man died Thursday in Franklin Lakes, N.J., when he apparently drove around cones warning motorists about a downed live wire and the vehicle caught fire.
A pickup truck driver who was struck by a snowplow Thursday morning in Lebanon, N.H., also died.