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Email: info@bigshift.net
Feb
26
Massive Storm Slams Northeast
HAMPTON, N.H. A strong-willed winter storm blasted the Northeast on Friday, unleashing hurricane-force winds that fanned a New Hampshire hotel fire, flooding parts of New York, and cutting power to at least 700,000 homes and businesses.
Power failures were so bad in New Hampshire that even the state Emergency Operations Center was operating on a generator.
The highest wind reported was 91 mph in Portsmouth, N.H. well above hurricane force of 74 mph. Gusts hit 60 mph or more from New York's Long Island to Massachusetts.
To the north in Maine, waves crashing ashore at high tide Friday morning turned beachfront streets into rivers in Saco, where storms have claimed several homes over the years.
At the peak of the outages early Friday, there were more than 220,000 customers without power in New York, mostly in the Hudson Valley north of New York City. There were 140,000 in Maine, 100,000 in Massachusetts, 25,000 in Vermont, and 11,000 in New Jersey. Those numbers began falling Friday as crews got to work, in some places contending with downed trees and deep snow that made it difficult to move around.
The weather also snarled traffic. A tractor-trailer jackknifed and 16 commercial vehicles piled up on a mile of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, forcing closure of a 60-mile stretch in the hills of central Pennsylvania. Two injuries were reported.
In New York City, 17 inches of snow had fallen before dawn and more was expected. A man was killed by a falling snow-laden tree branch in Central Park, one of at least three deaths being blamed on the storm.
One day after parts of northeastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Maine dealt with upward of 20 inches of snow and areas of northern New England weathered heavy rains that pushed some rivers toward flood levels, more of the same was forecast throughout Friday.
Even before snow began falling Thursday, Philadelphia and Atlantic City had experienced their snowiest winters on record. This time, those areas had 4 to 5 inches by midmorning Friday, but more was expected through Friday.
Power failures were so bad in New Hampshire that even the state Emergency Operations Center was operating on a generator.
The highest wind reported was 91 mph in Portsmouth, N.H. well above hurricane force of 74 mph. Gusts hit 60 mph or more from New York's Long Island to Massachusetts.
To the north in Maine, waves crashing ashore at high tide Friday morning turned beachfront streets into rivers in Saco, where storms have claimed several homes over the years.
At the peak of the outages early Friday, there were more than 220,000 customers without power in New York, mostly in the Hudson Valley north of New York City. There were 140,000 in Maine, 100,000 in Massachusetts, 25,000 in Vermont, and 11,000 in New Jersey. Those numbers began falling Friday as crews got to work, in some places contending with downed trees and deep snow that made it difficult to move around.
The weather also snarled traffic. A tractor-trailer jackknifed and 16 commercial vehicles piled up on a mile of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, forcing closure of a 60-mile stretch in the hills of central Pennsylvania. Two injuries were reported.
In New York City, 17 inches of snow had fallen before dawn and more was expected. A man was killed by a falling snow-laden tree branch in Central Park, one of at least three deaths being blamed on the storm.
One day after parts of northeastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Maine dealt with upward of 20 inches of snow and areas of northern New England weathered heavy rains that pushed some rivers toward flood levels, more of the same was forecast throughout Friday.
Even before snow began falling Thursday, Philadelphia and Atlantic City had experienced their snowiest winters on record. This time, those areas had 4 to 5 inches by midmorning Friday, but more was expected through Friday.
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