NEW YORK, (Reuters) – A wintry storm dropped snow and rain on the U.S. Northeast yesterday, bringing dangerous winds and knocking out power in a region where hundreds of thousands were still in the dark after Superstorm Sandy.
The nor’easter storm brought fresh misery to thousands in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut whose homes were destroyed by Sandy when it smashed ashore on Oct. 29, bringing historic flooding and high winds. The storm killed 120 people in the United States and Canada.
Some 22,000 homes and businesses from the Carolinas to New York lost power on Wednesday, joining the more than 640,000 customers who still lacked electricity from one of the biggest and costliest storms ever to hit the United States.
New York and New Jersey evacuated the most vulnerable coastal areas ahead of the nor’easter, which was forecast to bring a high tide about 2 feet (60 cm) above normal by early Thursday.
No major flooding was reported during the storm’s first hours, though New York warned residents whose homes had flooded during Sandy to consider moving to friends’ homes on higher ground or to city shelters.
Christine Jones, 73, said she had continued to live without heat or power in her beachside apartment building in coastal Far Rockaway in New York – even though it means climbing the stairs to her 10th floor apartment with a flashlight in hand.
“They tell us to evacuate,” she said, but she and her neighbors do not want to leave. “They’re scared they’re going to be robbed … The teen-age boys … they try to break in.”
In any case, Jones’ 1999 Buick was dead after water from the Atlantic Ocean washed over it during Sandy, leaving her with no means to evacuate the narrow peninsula she calls home.
‘WAITING FOR LOCUSTS AND PESTILENCE’
But authorities warned weary residents not to ignore this storm’s dangers.
“You have to prepare for the storm that’s coming in a few hours,” New Jersey Governor Chris Christie told residents. “I’m waiting for the locusts and pestilence next,” he joked, in a reference to Old Testament plagues.
The low-pressure weather system brought wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour (97 kph) and could drop 2 inches to 4 inches (5-10 cm) of snow on New York City, the National Weather Service said.
Ice pellets hit Long Island and the storm lifted wave heights to nearly 20 feet (6 metres) off Nantucket, Massachusetts, AccuWeather reported.
School districts in Connecticut sent students home early as a precaution and the New York Stock Exchange removed the giant U.S. flag from its facade to protect it from high winds.
A mix of rain and snow fell on parts of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, causing airport delays.
