Snow Storm East Coast US October 29th 2011 New York New Jersey Connecticut News Story

Northeast Snowstorm Leaves Millions Without Power

Unseasonal snowstorm hits US Northeast

Snow Storm(East Coast, US) October 29th 2011

Reports say power to more than 3 million homes and businesses across the Northeast on Sunday in large part because leaves still on the trees caught more snow, overloading branches that snapped and wreaked havoc. Close to 2 feet of snow fell in some areas over the weekend, and it was particularly wet and heavy, making the storm even more damaging "You just have absolute tree carnage with this heavy snow just straining the branches," said National Weather Service spokesman From Maryland to Maine, officials said it would take days to restore electricity, even though the snow ended Sunday The storm smashed record snowfall totals for October and worsened as it moved north. Communities in western Massachusetts were among the hardest hit. Snowfall totals topped 27 inches in Plainfield, and nearby Windsor had gotten 26 inches by early Sunday. It was blamed for at least 11 deaths, and states of emergency were declared in New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and parts of New York.
Roads, rails and airline flights were knocked out, and passengers on a JetBlue flight were stuck on a plane in Hartford, Conn., for more than seven hours More than 800,000 power customers were without electricity in Connecticut alone shattering the record set just two months ago by Hurricane Irene. Massachusetts had more than 600,000 outages, and so did New Jersey including Gov. Chris Christie's house. Parts of Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, New York, Maine, Maryland and Vermont also were without power."It's going to be a more difficult situation than we experienced in Irene," Connecticut Gov. said. "We are expecting extensive and long-term power outages."Thirty-two shelters were open around the state, and Malloy asked volunteer fire departments to allow people in for warmth and showers. At least four hospitals were relying on generators for power.Around Newtown in western Connecticut, trees were so laden with snow on some back roads that the branches touched the street. Every few minutes, a snap filled the air as one broke and tumbled down. Roads that were plowed became impassible because the trees were falling so fast One of the few businesses open in the area was a Big Y grocery store that had a generator. Customers loaded up on supplies, heard news updates over the intercom, charged up their cell phones, and waited for a suddenly hard-to-get cup of coffee in a line that was 30 people deep and growing.Many of the areas hit by the storm had also been hit by Irene A rare October snowstorm engulfs the heavily populated US Northeast with some areas bracing for up to a foot of snow and major power cuts.
Winter Snow Storm on October 29th 2011 Technically Fall is reaching its peak.. so its unusual to have this type of weather so early but not impossible.

11 dead 3 Million Without Power Northeast Snow Storm New York New Jersey Connecticut

school closings

Halloween postponed

United States Snow Winter East Coast Cold America Ice October 2011 Storm Americas Weather Low Pressure System Halloween New England Blizzard Wind Historic

View the original article here