Snow storms sweep across US
Highway and utility crews worked overtime today to recover from the huge storm that buried Ohio and other parts of the Midwest in snow and tore down power lines elsewhere.
Ohio had one traffic death linked to the weather, and four men died while shovelling snow. Two traffic deaths were blamed on the storm in western New York state and one in Tennessee. Two people were killed on Friday as tornadoes spun out of the eastern edge of the weather system in Florida.
More than 20 inches of snow fell from Friday through Saturday at Columbus, eclipsing the city’s previous record of 15.3ind set in February 1910, the National Weather Service said. Elsewhere 14ins fell at Milan, Indiana. Up to a foot fell in parts of Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansas on Friday.
Many churches in the Columbus area cancelled Sunday services because roads were so slippery.
Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, which shut down on Saturday, reopened today but flight delays and cancellations were expected as airlines tried to get their schedules back on track, spokesman Todd Payne said.
Delays also were expected at Port Columbus International Airport, where 90% of flights were cancelled on Saturday.
The storm made roads slippery and snow-covered in western New York and caused flooding that closed roads in other parts of the state. Today, high wind and falling temperatures created brisk wind chills in much of the state.
Northern Maine also got heavy snow as the storm sped into Canada’s Maritime Provinces, with 17.5ins at St Agatha, and 3ins of rain fell at Robbinston in the state’s eastern corner. A flood watch was in effect for wide areas of Maine but officials said there was no widespread flooding.
At least 8,400 Vermont homes and businesses still had no power today, down from a peak of some 20,000 during the storm on Saturday, Central Vermont Public Service Corp. officials said. Repair crews were hampered by ice-covered roads and fallen trees.
Utility companies in southeastern Pennsylvania said they had restored power to most of the 80,000 customers who were blacked out on Saturday by power lines snapped by wind and falling tree limbs.
More than 100,000 New Jersey homes and businesses lost power at the height of thunderstorms that boiled up along the eastern part of the weather system, and some commuter train routes into New York City were blocked by fallen trees, authorities said. Wind gusted to 65mph in New Jersey, the weather service said.
