Slow recovery for Northeast after epic blizzard

A deadly blizzard of historic proportions pounded the Northeast, already bringing more than 3 feet of snow to some areas and at one point cutting power to 650,000 homes and businesses.

More than 3 feet had fallen on central Connecticut by Saturday afternoon, and areas of southeastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire notched 2 feet or more of snow — as the storm began to wane.

Crews are beginning to get the lights back on in the areas that took the brunt of the storm's force.

About 400,000 homes and businesses remain without power early Sunday, down from a high of 650,000. But utilities in some hard-hit areas, such as Massachusetts and Rhode Island, warn that residents could remain in the dark at least for another day.

In Massachusetts, NStar utility said in many areas it was too dangerous to send in crews. National Guard troops were helping evacuate coastal areas where there was some flooding.

The storm is blamed for at least eight deaths, three in Canada and five in the USA. In Connecticut, a 73-year-old man died when he fell while cleaning up in Danbury and a woman in her 80s was struck and killed Friday by a hit-run driver. A 74-year-old man died after being struck by a car in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.; the driver said she lost control in the snowy conditions, police said. A second New Yorker, 23, died when a tractor he was using to plow his driveway went off the edge of the road. And, in Boston, an 11-year-old boy died when he was overcome by carbon monoxide in a running car that his father was digging out of a snow bank.

Hurricane-force winds and history-making snowfalls combined to spread misery from New Jersey to Maine. Winds gusted to 76 mph at Boston's Logan airport and 84 mph in Cuttyhunk, Mass. The storm piled the most snow on Hamden, Conn. -- 40 inches -- and was the fifth largest in Boston history, with 24.9 inches of snow recorded there.

The 31.9 inches in Portland, Maine, is the most ever recorded there from a single snowstorm; the storm was the second biggest in Harford, Conn. (22.8 inches) and Concord, N.H. (24 inches), and third biggest in Worcester (28.7 inches).

More than 6,600 flights in North America have been canceled, according to flight-tracking service FlightStats.

In the New York City area, John F. Kennedy Airport, LaGuardia Airport and Newark Airport were open as of 7 a.m. Saturday, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Boston's Logan Airport resumed operations late Saturday night.

Travelers were urged to call ahead and check with their carriers for specific flight information.

Amtrak said trains between New York and Boston were suspended Saturday but some trains would run Sunday.

While the blizzard, dubbed "Nemo" by the Weather Channel, the blizzard has ended in New York City, heavy snow and strong wind gusts are expected to continue across much of New England through midday, before tapering off from west to east through the afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.

The snowfall ended and all blizzard warnings expired by 4 p.m. everywhere except far northeast Maine. Temperatures will rise into the 30s Sunday, according to AccuWeather.

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New York City's Central Park, where the official snowfall totaled 11.4 inches, filled with bundled-up men, women and children. Some went with sleds, some with skis, some strolled casually, and some, like Gauri Pradhan of Manhattan, took photos of the snow-covered scenery.

"It's pretty," Pradhan said.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Saturday morning the city "certainly avoided the worst of it."

In Long Island's Suffolk and Nassau counties, the state's hardest-hit areas, about 200 motorists were stranded with their vehicles, and even firetrucks became stuck.

In a Saturday morning news briefing, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo urged Long Island motorists to stay off the roads and allow plows and emergency workers to clear the snow.

"You have an historic amount of snowfall. It does not go away in a matter of minutes," he said. "Today is not a day for people to be leaving the house unless they have urgent, urgent business."

Additional snowplows from adjacent Nassau County and from New York City were en route to help eastern Long Island dig out, Cuomo said. New York was also sending plows, personnel and other storm-response aid to Connecticut and Massachusetts, he said, explaining that "this state had (storm-related) consequences, but nothing like out neighboring states."

Conn. Gov. Dannel Malloy ordered all roads closed statewide through Saturday afternoon.

"It's critical right now that residents stay off the roads, so that our plows can continue their efforts to clear our streets and highways," said Malloy. "This is a record-setting storm. It's going to take time to dig out of the snow. Stalled or abandoned vehicles will only slow that process. Unless you face an emergency, please stay put."

The storm stranded hundreds of motorists on highways and roads across Suffolk County on Eastern Long Island.

"We're taxed. We're still trying to rescue people in a number of places and get them home," said a spokesman for the Suffolk County Police Department Saturday morning. "We have the National Guard and the State Police helping us."

"It's very hard to get on an entrance or exit ramp right now. They're under several feet of snow," the police spokesman said.

The Long Island Expressway eventually opened on Saturday, but about 30 miles of the highway was to be closed again Sunday for snow removal.

The snow also caused a 19-car, four-hour pileup on I-295 near Cumberland, Maine. Several people had minor injuries, police said. In Vermont, the storm was being blamed for a series of crashes on I-89 in Bolton and South Burlington. Two people were taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York and Massachusetts have declared states of emergencies.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said in a Saturday afternoon news conference he banned traffic Friday afternoon, before the storm hit, in contrast to the state's last such ban in the blizzard of 1978.

"We tried to take experiences from the blizzard of 1978, when the travel ban was issued after the storm had already hit," Patrick said.

This time, while there were some "knuckleheads" who went out anyway and a few dozen got stuck, "we think we were well served by that" early travel ban, he said.

The roadway travel ban was lifted across the state by Saturday afternoon, but public transit in the city remains suspended.

In Somerville, Mass., Amsterdam Falafelshop Boston was one of the only business to open on time Saturday, after staying open til its regular closing time at midnight Friday.

"The way I see small business is that we're providing a service to the local community," owner Matt D'Alessio, 29, said as he shoveled the knee-high snow and salted the sidewalk outside his restaurant. "We remained open because people came to our shop," buying multiple sandwiches for friends at home, D'Alessio said.

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The Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant in Plymouth experienced an automatic shutdown at around 9:15 p.m. Friday after losing off-site power. Spokesman Neil Sheehan says that the reactor shut down without any problems and that backup generators are powering plant equipment.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says there's no threat to public safety.

Contributing: Melanie Eversley, Ben Mutzabaugh, Stephanie Haven; Alesha Williams, Laura Petrecca, Natalie DiBlasio, TIm Mullaney; Associated Press







