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Subscribe to RSSNBC's Ron Mott reports that cleanup is slowly underway from the Blizzard of 2013 is underway in the Northeast.
Updated at 4:30 p.m. ET: A gusting winter storm buried parts of the Northeast under 3 feet of snow and left millions of people with little to do Sunday but wait — for lights to come on, flights to resume and packed-in cars to be freed.
Transportation systems slowly flickered back. New York airports reopened on limited schedules, and around 11 p.m. Saturday night Boston’s Logan International Airport welcomed in its first flight since the storm hit. All major airports are operational again, but many in the affected area are still experiencing delays and cancellations.
Still, for the most part, the country’s most populous region came to a standstill for a day. Elected officials pleaded with people to stay inside, even after the snow stopped, to let emergency crews and snowplows do their work.
Full coverage from The Weather Channel
“This is going to go on for a number of days,” Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy said. “This will not all be done today.”
Gov. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island warned that while it was no longer snowing, the danger hadn't ended.
"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," The Associated Press quoted him as saying.
The storm was blamed for at least 10 deaths, including a child poisoned by carbon monoxide and an 81-year-old Connecticut woman who was clearing snow with a blower who was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver.
At 4:00 p.m. ET Sunday, 290,726 homes and businesses were without power in New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, down from a total of about 650,000. Some schools in the region said that they would be closed on Monday, according to the AP.
NBC's Ron Allen joins Lester Holt with the latest from Connecticut, a state that had some of the highest snow totals.
And along the coast, including among people battered by Superstorm Sandy less than four months ago, flooding was a concern. The snowstorm announced itself with hurricane-force winds and churned up offshore waters.
When the snow finally stopped Saturday afternoon, cities and towns reported eye-popping snow totals — 40 inches in Hampden, Conn., 38 inches in Milford, Conn., and 34 inches in New Haven. Portland, Maine, got almost 32 inches, breaking its record.
Boston reported a hair under 25 inches, placing the storm in that city’s five-worst on record. Concord, N.H., reported 2 feet. Central Park in New York — by afternoon a sledder’s paradise — reported 11.4 inches.
The National Weather Service recorded peak wind gusts of 83 mph in Cuttyhunk, Mass., the strength of a Category 1 hurricane. There were gusts of 72 mph in Westport, Conn., and 76 mph in East Boston.
On the Long Island Expressway, which looked more like a moonscape than a busy thoroughfare, 60 to 100 cars were stuck in the snow, and police officers worked through the night to free people from cars and get them to safety.
Richard Ebbrecht, a chiropractor, told the AP that he left his office in Brooklyn at 3 p.m. Friday and got stuck six or seven times on the expressway and other roads.
“We were all helping each other, shoveling, pushing,” he said.
He gave up and settled in for the night just two miles from home. At 8 a.m., he walked the rest of the way.
“I could run my car and keep the heat on and listen to the radio a little bit,” he told the AP. “It was very icy under my car. That’s why my car is still there.”
Among the 10 deaths blamed on the storm was an 11-year-old boy in Boston who was overcome by carbon monoxide while keeping warm in the car.
NBC's Ron Mott joins Lester Holt with an updates on the blizzard's aftermath in Rhode Island.
The boy had been helping his father shovel out the car and got cold. The father started the engine, and the boy got inside, a Boston fire spokesman told the AP. But the car’s exhaust pipe was covered by a snowbank.
In a separate incident, also in Boston, a 20-year-old man was found dead in his car. He was also overcome by carbon monoxide fumes.
In Auburn, N.H., a man was killed after losing control of his car and hitting a tree. He was found dead in his car by local authorities.
In Prospect, Conn., an 81-year-old woman was using a snowblower when a driver struck and killed her and fled the scene, Malloy said. In Danbury, a man slipped on a porch and was found dead Saturday morning, the mayor told NBC Connecticut.
A 53-year-old man in Bridgeport, Conn., was found dead under snow at his house, possibly from hypothermia or a cardiac arrest, authorities said. A 55-year-old New Milford man died after he suffered a heart attack while plowing. A Shelton man, 49, died while digging out his truck.
A man in Livingston County, N.Y., was plowing his driveway with a tractor Friday night when the tractor went off the edge of the road and fell on top of him.
And in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., an 18-year-old woman lost control of her car in the snow and struck Muril M. Hancock, 74, who was walking near the shoulder, police said Friday. Hancock died at the hospital.
On the Long Island Expressway, dozens of cars were stuck in the snow, and police officers worked through the night to free people from cars and get them to safety. NBC's Anne Thompson reports.
In New York, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Saturday morning that 2,200 pieces of equipment were on the streets, salting and plowing. He said that all the primary streets in the city had been plowed.
“I think it’s fair to say that we were very lucky,” he said. “Looks like we dodged a bullet.”
He said the city had offered help to other places hit harder by the storm.
In Massachusetts, Gov. Deval Patrick had ordered all cars off the roads but announced Saturday afternoon that he was lifting the ban for Interstate 91 and the slice of the state to the west.
Connecticut had a similar ban in place, but Malloy could not say when it might be lifted. He said Saturday afternoon that he expected it to remain in place at least for the rest of the day.
Transportation systems slowly flickered back to life Saturday, but for the most part, the country's most populous region came to a standstill for a day. NBC's Rehema Ellis reports.
The winter storm was fueled by two weather systems — a so-called clipper pattern that swept across the Midwest and a band of rain that churned up from the South. They clashed explosively over the Northeast on Friday.
The storm arrived in earnest Friday night. The governors of New York, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island all declared states of emergency.
More than 800 National Guard soldiers and airmen were activated in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York to provide roadway support, emergency transportation and back-up for first responders, the Department of Defense said.
Related:
'Absolutely beautiful' scene in Conn. town hit by most snow
Sandy survivors: It's like a repeat 'nightmare'
Leave a Comment:
If a polar bear schits in the snow, and no one is there to hear it , does it make a sound?
I don't know. Why don't you ask your woman.
Or, have an odor?
Politics aside, based on the scarcity of comments I think we can all agree that this article is of snow interest!!
businesses all think they are essential. i worked in a business office. We were never closed for weather emergencies and never closed early. We worked on computers handling customer accounts. We were not classified as first responders or essential emergency personnel but we had to be there. How do you enforce the emergency standard when companies insist employees show up for work or be charged with an disciplinary occurrence or not permitted to leave early. One post states 'no job is worth losing your life.' Well who pays the bills when the snow melts.
Well, that is what, heaven forbid, unions are good for. Also a good 1st rate attorney could come in handy. Yes, good question, who does pay the bills when the snow melts? And also ask yourself this: Who pays the bills when you are dead, or crippled for life?
Your decision, but I damn sure would be looking for a different job while being employed there. But everyone to their own.
Hey Mah I too worked for a very large computer company for 30 years, and guess what we never closed either. If you want snow days than may I suggest you become a teacher, here in the once great state of NY, they close school if it is snowing in Chicago. Or you can man up and make it into work, you should be glad they didn't postpone the invasion of France 6/6/1944 or you would be speaking German right now. But I guess that was a differnet time and a much tougher generation.
The point is the emergency standard and essential personnel. For public safety the states ask people to stay off the roads. Businesses ignore the request and demand workers show up. Is the attitude 'my business is more important than any public safety concern'? Snow is one thing, white out blizzard is another. This attitude is why the government intervenes in commerce. The right thing is not done unless enforced. business wants gov't out of commerce then make the right decisions for safety of the public when asked.
It's snow and wind. Why is this made into such a catastrophic event. It's winter, and when there is precipitation it normally comes down in the form of snow. Stay inside, make some soup, and enjoy some family time. By Monday this will be history and something else will be holding our attention.
what if the "snow and wind" takes out your power and heating? without power you cant make soup and without heating you'll be freezing to death
Must be "global warming"!!! Al Gore is in hiding right now..LOL!!
Oh great more moronic easterners will be headed west to live. Please stay where you are.
Well I live in the mountains near Tucson and we're snowed in too. Not as bad as the east coast, but we do get snow in the west. Even in the desert.
John55fan; Not in this lifetime or any other lifetime would I move west. I live in western NY south of Buffalo. I have 53 inches of snow on the ground right now. It's not really that bad. At least I don't have to worry about the fires, earthquakes, and f***ots in Calif.
Darned global warming! Just thought I'd pass on how beautiful it is in Jupiter, Florida today. Enjoy your snow.
Enjoy your humidity. :)
And bugs...
can someone please call Al Gore?
Geez...
Seriously, prayers go out to the Sandy folks that haven't rebuilt and were ill-prepared. These folks are literally living out the phrase, "That which does not kill me, only makes me stronger"
Yeah, maybe he can crank up his jet since he's so green..
For the flat earthers, Climate change/global warming means an increase in the amount of humidity in the air due to a warming planet. This translates into an increase in the amount of snowfall when this moisture laden air comes in contact with cold fronts sweeping down from the north in winter. This also means that there is more snow on the ground to melt and join with rainfall in the spring causing an increase in flooding. Shorter winters with increased snowfall in the north, earlier spring with increased flooding and more violent weather across the mid-west, longer summers with higher temperatures and greater numbers of wildfires in the southwest where there are dryer conditions, and more destructive storms and hurricanes in the south east and east in the fall.
And what's your solution? M*sturbate for energy?
For the tree huggers,
Climate /global warming is like a new tax base. This translates into an increase in in revenue. Also, the amount of propaganda that comes into contact with the sheeple coming from the Left acts as a conduit.
This also means we can say whatever scientific jargon we want to come up with. Because, really, whenever there is weather we can make it look/sound like its never happened before.
After all, the planet has been warming and cooling for ...oh, I dont know, a few billion years?
I call BS on the Global warming/climate crap.
clearly you have no clue, jus keep pumping tha co2 into the atmospher by the billions of tuns a day. see what you have in 100 yrs, we won't have to worry about snow anymore. It's called common sense, let me guess you're a clueless republican?
The only cure is go green or go extinct. Replant deforested lands so that the earth can once again be protected and retain moisture. This would slow erosion and give the earth time to soak up rainfall as opposed to flowing across barren land and into rivers before being absorbed. Reduce greenhouse gas by utilizing green technology and give nature a chance to recover as opposed to putting more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than nature can handle. We can help nature recover faster instead of taxing its resources more.
The greatest problem is that many flat earthers have the attitude that we can pollute the earth as much as we like because it's a big planet and it can handle it, or that why should they try if the rest of the developing world doesn't. Look at China. is this what you want for your children? Having to wear a mask outside because the pollution is so thick it is affecting the health and development of your off spring and you go months without seeing a blue sky or a clear sunny day. They live in a world of grey. We are committing a slow suicide and need to stop. If not for yourself then do it for your children. They are the ones that will inherit what is left of the earth so let's not leave them a wasteland.
Sure don't forget about the two billion people in China and India, I'm sure they're all green and such. I'm sure sorting your garbage will help the planet..
Saturnsrim, I am far from a flatearther; and I have read the IPCC reports myself. However, I sometimes have to wonder if climate change means whatever scientists want it to mean at the time-and that's why they now call it "climate change." No matter what the climate does, I am told it is due to climate change. If it's hot, that's climate change; if it's cold, that's climate change; if it's dry, that's climate change; if it's wet, that's climate change; if it snows, that's climate change; if it doesn't snow, that's climate change; if there are more storms, that's climate change; if there are fewer storms, that's climate change; etc. And you guys wonder why we question you? You wonder why we think the whole thing seems a bit rigged. It's kind of like the witch trials: "Throw her in the water. If she floats, she's a witch; if she sinks (and drowns), well..." You guys can't lose. No matter what happens, you will say it's climate change. By the way, the IPCC report did not call for wide variations in temperature. It called for a steady rise in temperature. Also, according to the IPCC Rerport,
GHG=Greenhouse Gases
You spoke of water vapor but didn't mention greenhouse gases at all. The way the IPCC says to calculate CO2 is also very interesting:
from IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Working Group III-Mitigation of Climate Change
This pretty much guarantees that the country with the highest GDP will always have the highest CO2 emissions by this formula. The report says that historically the most industrialized nations and the richest nations have had the highest carbon emissions; however, I am not certain that will always be valid. Consider this: suppose a very rich nation used its wealth to pursue "clean energy technology" and in the process actually wound up having fewer carbon emissions than a poorer nation? In that case, this formula would not necessarily prove accurate, would it? Should the rich nation continue to be penalized as if it were still emitting more CO2? Should the US have to pay more money than a poorer nation that was actually emitting more CO2? I don't think our population in the US knows anything about this formula, not unless they have actually read the IPCC report, which very few have. In that case is it possible this formula could become a political tool more than anything else?
You know, climate change scientists would also be a lot more credible to me if they would not do things like trying to hijack other environmental problems-things they have been telling us were due to OTHER problems for decades-and now try to tell us they are due to climate change, as if they think we were deaf or not listening before. There are at least two examples of such problems here in FL. One has to do with certain problems with the reefs that we have been told for years were due to agricultural runoff and pollution from sewage pipes, and now they are saying they are due to climate change. Sorry, but I was paying attention the first several times because I was a scuba diver and I care a lot about what happens to the reefs. Another is beach erosion. We have been told for decades that beach erosion is due to all the building of condos right on the dunes-now they are trying to tell us it is due to climate change and the oceans rising. Sorry, but I've been here a long time; and I was listening because I care about things like that. Suddenly trying to blame every single environmental issue on climate change does not help your credibility. Nor does calling anyone who questions you names. If you are so certain you are right, then you should be big enough and sure enough of yourself to hold up to the hard questions. If you can't do that without name calling or using ad hominem arguments, then I begin to suspect that you have no real argument.
Of course I've read your studies and such-I've read the NOAA stuff regarding storms and temperatures and all that. I've seen pictures of the Arctic ice caps, which are very dramatic (and also the Antarctic, which you guys always seem to leave out.) I'm not coming from some Fox News perspective-I don't consider them credible at all! However, you guys just keep doing things that raise my suspicions. If you want to be taken more seriously, cut it out! And stop trying to bully people. That doesn't win anyone to your cause. If you are really interested in people learning a truth rather than this being about some personal power trip then teach them, but teach them well.
Just to add, people who are gung ho for climate change aren't the only ones who care about the environment. I care very much about it, as I said in the above post. I always cared what happened to the reefs and I always cared about beach erosion. I think we should do all we can to protect this planet, regardless of what is causing climate change. Pollution can't possibly be GOOD for the planet. We certainly know enough to know that it hurts the environment and that cutting back on it will help. My family was "green" even before it was cool to be "green." I've had many arguments with my friends against drilling off the coast because of the reefs, and I can't believe they won't listen. I just don't think completely bankrupting the economy is going to help the economy either because we would just have to come back up from scratch if we didn't have the money for clean energy or for the technology we have now that scrubs pollution.
Just say to yourself, its global warming until spring
ok first of all not everyone in the northeast voted for obama.. second he has no control over the weather! i am so sick of people laughing at the weather on the east coast. you bitched and bitched about katrina.. it was handled much faster than sandy and you still are getting paid for it. seriously. not everyone in the north east is liberal, but regardless one political affliction does not cause weather changes.
these comments are useless in general.. if a state of emergency is called and people are not allowed on the roads than it won't matter what your supervisor thinks.. it would be illegal to fire you for not showing up to your office. If you are an essential personnel, (hospital, etc.) than the police will drive you to work. i worked at a police station for many years and they did this.
with all of this being said it is really just snow. people in this region have had other blizzards... maybe not as big in some areas but do not let this article lead you to believe we cannot handle it.
Snow in the Northeast"GO FIGURE". The media creates another DISASTER!50 years ago this would not get whined at and would have been fun!
Don't worry. The WORKING class of American will bail your sorry asses out....AGAIN!
Too bad though that it wouldn't fall on just the backs of libs to take care of their own.
I vote to make, not let, texas secede. What a sh%&% hole.
Let Texas succeed then we can cut all funding and tax their exports. They could not afford to defend themselves so we could watch them go broke trying to build an army or charge them for their defense and they would be responsible for patrolling their own borders and fighting their own wildfires. They would soon be a third world country and their economy would fail.
Only two things come from Texas. Steers and queers.
It's winter and it snowed in New England. Big whoop. Now we will have to hear about how much harder it is on people today than it was on people 100 years ago. It's amazing how much harder the weather is on people today.
3 feet of snow clobbers the Northeast and shuts everything down. In Minnesota we refer to 3 feet of snow as a dusting!
so how much is this going to cost the tax payers? Tired of bailing out NYC etc everytime there's weather here is a idea don't build cites on the coast, and don't build power lines above ground it's not tha hard. not to mention all the idiots driving and getting stranded and costing us even more. up to me i'd let em sit in their cars and freeze. What they're not telling you most of this will melt by tomorrow suppose to be in the high 40s low 50s. Let it melt save your money. I bet this is all obama's fault...
We are becoming a nation of government dependent sissy's. It's winter and in some US locations it snows! Although I agree with staying off the roads, these storms are not abnormal occurrences. They used to be the norm. What happened, did everyone in the north east discard their shovels and snow throwers? What the hell folks, suck it up and start digging like the rest of us when the white stuff falls.......
Surely the right wing wackos will blame this on Obama.
Glad to see all the trolls made it through the storm. Really? Turning this event into politics? I've been back up north for 5 years and it's time to go back south of I-10. I only saw snow there once. I also lived in Minn. & Alaska when I was young. It's sad to hear about loss of life, pile-ups, people stranded in cars, ect... I learned a long time ago to stay home even if it's only a travel advisory, but go out in a blizzard warning?
a car driven by an 18-year-old female went out of control in the snow and struck Muril M. Hancock, 74,
I am a very experienced and trained driver and i will say that a car during a 2' snow storm is totally wrong. An experienced driver in a full sized 4x4 truck or bigger i can see and no not a low riding SUV. Telling yourself it will be ok if you follow the truck track's is so incorrect. a car is TOO LIGHTWEIGHT and will ride up on top of the snow, very unstable. To most car's built today hitting a 3' snow drift is like hitting a wall.
Please plan ahead and don't fool yourself.
every house hold and every building can sustain it's own energy with wind and solar, thing power companies don't want to happen, and only reason why it hasn't. We'd rather spend billions of tax payer monies to fix broken power lines, bust fuel lines etc only to get the bill passed on to the bill payers by the power companies. Repulican campain funding co2 pumping power companies....
And there you see it folks. That a number of so called "conservatives" seem to have lost their way in understanding the definition of "united" in the term "United States". These "conservatives" are great with their clarion calls of "rugged individualism", but they also exhibit an extremely ignorant view of hiistory of people in the United States, That if and/or when, a disaster struck one of the community, or a region, everyone pulled together to come to the aid of that one or that community. These are the people to avoid, since they seem to want to push that in any disaster that strikes fellow American people, they would turn their backs and refuse to aid anyone.
Granted, that disasters cost us all, even without US aid. Because of the shut down of businesses, travel restrictions, etc., Those affected are still our fellow countrymen/women. And coming to the aid, as was fully demonstrated when the 9/11 attacks happened, is what we do. So to those "conservatives" making all their ugly remarks, take heed of where they claim to be from and remember them if they should ever become victims of any natural disaster. That being that we do not fall into the same cave that they live in.
stfu
The United States of America are quickly becoming the States of America, not united, and thus not as powerful as it could be
ok light the gas
run gas through the flame of the liberty staue it will raise the heat as it cools it will descend back onto the top of the weather system causing disruption and maybe rain
light the gas fields and blow it to wards the strom
cruise liners old need to head up from lauderdale and miami-time to raid the food mountains
lets save the planet together what can happen you'd don't freeze
those guys in jersy will be in rewal trouble
the barrier island s do not refine they have pipes to them from the mainland
the heat and then ice will crack the pipes and any connection to the main land
fema - christe -onbama step up and help newyork and the rest of the country
p.s if bank of america can give me a loan i will be grateful
do you want to be the FED hire kruger from the new york times-thats a good combination and reverse your image
WOW! Must be some good stuff you're smokin'!
mlcadle
Say that again in english.
then just keep the liberty torch burning to remember that it is not all in vain
it snowed 8 feet at the end of my driveway.....F'n plow trucks
Hey biggdeal! You made me lol with your comment. I remember living in upstate NY, shoveling the whole drive to the street only to stand in quiet resignation as I watched the snowplow fill it in again. Great piles of snow for forts with tunnel entrances however. And also making carved out shelves inside with stockpiles of extra snowballs. You could say it was kind of a high capacity magazine/armory as long as your arm held out. I wonder how many "rounds" I threw growing up. Seems like thousands.