Deep snow blankets US Northeast
A huge storm dumped 2 feet of snow across the US Northeast and knocked out power to 650,000 homes.
BOSTON: A huge storm with hurricane-force wind gusts and blizzard conditions dumped more than 2 feet (0.6 meters) of snow across the U.S. Northeast overnight and knocked out power to more than 650,000 homes and businesses in a densely populated region of about 25 million between New York City and Boston.
Airlines canceled more than 5,300 flights through Saturday, and the three major airports serving New York City, as well as Boston s Logan Airport, closed. At least six deaths were blamed on the storm, including three in Canada.
Flooding was a concern along the coast, but the storm did not appear to create major problems in New York and New Jersey, states hit hardest during October s Superstorm Sandy.
Snow piled up so high in some places Saturday that people couldn t open their doors to get outside. Streets were mostly deserted and inaccessible.
In Connecticut, where all roads were ordered closed Saturday, the snow made travel nearly impossible even for emergency responders, who found themselves stuck on highways all night.
"It s a real challenge out there," First Selectman Michael Tetreau said. "The roads are not passable at this point. We are asking everyone to stay home and stay safe."
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick enacted a statewide driving ban for the first time since the Blizzard of 1978.
The wind-whipped snowstorm mercifully arrived at the start of a weekend, which meant fewer cars on the road and extra time for sanitation crews to clear the mess before commuters have to go back to work.
About 650,000 customers in the region lost power during the height of the snowstorm, most of them in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
In southern Ontario, an 80-year-old woman collapsed while shoveling her driveway, and two men were killed in car crashes. One pedestrian was struck by a vehicle and killed Friday night in Connecticut, and a 23-year-old New York man plowing his driveway with a tractor went off the edge of the road and was killed, police in those states said.
In New York, hundreds of cars got stuck on the Long Island Expressway on Friday, and dozens remained disabled early Saturday as police worked to free them.
A little more than 11 inches (279 millimeters) fell in New York City, but the city was "in great shape" Saturday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, and he said streets would be cleared by the end of the day.
Still, native New Yorker Efrain Burgos took no chances.
"I took the subway for the first time in 10 years," he said.
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