Perilous
Times
New York's Central Park loses thousands of trees after
'Snowtober' storms
New York's Central Park loses 1,000's trees because of a freakish
October storm which killed at least 11 people and left more than
three million without power along the US east coast.
By Nick Allen
5:47PM GMT 31 Oct 2011
The unseasonably fierce weather conditions, which became known as
"Snowtober," saw 2.9 inches of snowfall on Central Park.
Because the trees were still so leafy they held large amounts of
the snow which caused limbs to snap.
The storm harmed an area of 400 acres, half of the park, and 100
workers were clearing and assessing the damage.
Central Park Conservancy spokeswoman Dena Libner said: "The damage
is so broad and so devastating. Every tree that lost a branch has
to be assessed to see whether the damage was more severe than just
losing a limb."
She estimated that hundreds of whole trees, some measuring up to
4ft in diameter, were felled by the storm.
National Weather Service spokesman Chris Vaccaro said: "You just
have absolute tree carnage with this heavy snow just straining the
branches."
The storm, which ended late on Sunday, broke record snowfall
totals for October and worsened as it moved north.
The heaviest snowfall was 27 inches in Plainfield, Massachusetts.
States of emergency were declared in New Jersey, Connecticut,
Massachusetts and parts of New York.
Passengers were stuck on a grounded plane in Hartford,
Connecticut, for more than seven hours.