US Storm Falls Short of Severe Predictions, Yet Affects Millions
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Date: 1/27/2015 11:36:46 AM
Sender: VOA
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Pedestrians walk bundled against the blowing snow during a winter snowstorm in Boston, Massachusetts, Jan. 27, 2015.
Tens of millions of people along the U.S. East Coast stayed home from work and school, had flights canceled and were told to stay off roads for a snowstorm that, for most, failed to live up to predictions that it would be one of the worst they had ever seen.
While the blizzard dropped about 30 centimeters (a foot) of snow across Massachusetts and Connecticut overnight, but it had a lesser impact on New York.
By early Tuesday, the governors of New York and New Jersey lifted travel bans they had imposed a day earlier and New York City＇s subway system was set to restart, though officials urged people who did not have to drive to stay off snow-covered roadways.
"This is nothing like we feared it would be," New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told CNN. De Blasio had earlier warned the storm could be one of the worst the city has ever faced.
The storm’s size meant that up to 60 million people in nearly a dozen states were affected by the blizzard and winter snowstorm warnings.
High winds, snow
The National Weather Service (NWS) early Tuesday lowered snowfall forecasts, but still said the "life-threatening blizzard" could dump about a meter (3 feet) of snow across parts of the region as well as bring punishing hurricane-force winds.
The snow was combined with winds of up to 112 kilometers per hour (70 miles per hour). In addition to blizzard warnings, flood warnings are in effect, with officials fearing power outages and falling trees as well.
A blizzard warning remained in effect for much of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, where snow was expected to continue falling throughout the day at a rate of about 5 to 8 centimeters (2 to 3 inches) an hour, even as the NWS lifted its blizzard warning for the New York City area.
Fewer Massachusetts residents and businesses lost power than was expected, said Governor Charlie Baker, saying that temperatures well below freezing had resulted in light snow. High winds could yet result in additional outages, he said.
“We＇ll continue to see high winds throughout the course of the day,” Baker said Tuesday. “People should spend the morning digging out, cleaning up.”
Significant flooding was reported in coastal communities south of Boston.
Early warnings
On Monday, life abruptly stopped across the region as officials ordered workers to go home early, banned travel, closed bridges and tunnels, and assembled their biggest plowing crews.
By early Tuesday, light snow was falling steadily in midtown Manhattan as a few municipal trucks rumbled down empty streets.
Stock exchanges, including Intercontinental Exchange Inc＇s New York Stock Exchange unit, Nasdaq OMX Group, and BATS Global Markets, said they expected to stay open for normal operating hours on Tuesday.
Utility companies across the region put additional crews on standby to deal with anticipated power outages.
Governors in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island issued statewide driving bans for most motorists, bringing travel across the region to a standstill.
In New York＇s Long Island, Suffolk County Police said that a teenager had died late on Monday when he crashed into a lampost in the street where he was snow-tubing.
UN, schools closed
The United Nations closed its headquarters early and was to remain shut, forcing the cancellation on Tuesday of an important event to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Holocaust.
East Coast schools, including New York City -- the nation＇s largest public school system, serving 1 million students -- shut down. Universities, including Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, canceled classes.
The brutal weather paralyzed the New York City metropolitan area, with a shutdown of all subway, bus and commuter rail services. It was the first time the city subway had been halted due to snow.
New Jersey Transit and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority said on their websites that bus, rail and other services would also be suspended on Tuesday.
Vacationers and business travelers faced headaches as airlines canceled more than 4,500 U.S. flights, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware.
New York authorities said "virtually all" flights at LaGuardia Airport on Tuesday would be canceled and cancellations at John F. Kennedy International Airport would be "significant."
Boston＇s Logan international airport canceled flights from Monday evening until Wednesday afternoon.
Amtrak also suspended rail services on Tuesday between New York and Boston, and into New York state, Vermont, Massachusetts and Maine.
Coastal flood warnings were issued from Delaware to Maine, and National Weather Service officials in Boston reported early on Tuesday that waves just a few miles outside of Boston Harbor approached 6 meters (20 feet). |
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