Perilous
Times
Up to five dead, over 1.8 million without power as snowstorm
slams Northeast, Mid-Atlantic
By the CNN Wire Staff
updated 9:54 PM EST, Sat October 29, 2011
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* NEW: Massachusetts reports storm-related fatality, bringing
total to at least 5 across the northeast
* NEW: More than 550,000 don't have power in Connecticut and
New Jersey, utilities say
* NEW: The National Weather Service reports 15 inches of snow
in one New Jersey town
* Thousands of air travelers are affected, many in the New
York area
(CNN) -- A freak fall snow storm slammed the Mid-Atlantic and
Northeast on Saturday, leaving at least 5 people dead, more than
1.8 million households without power and thousands of air
travelers stranded.
An 84-year-old man was napping in a recliner at his home in
Temple, Pennsylvania, on Saturday afternoon when part of a large,
snow-filled tree fell into his house and killed him "instantly,"
according to a state police report. With numerous downed trees in
the area, rescue crews took two hours to "safely remove the
victim."
Another person died while driving in Hebron, Connecticut, state
emergency spokesman Scott Devico said.
A third person was killed in Springfield, Massachusetts, when a
man in his 20s ignored police barricades surrounding downed power
lines and touched a metal guard rail, which was charged, said city
fire department spokesman Dennis Legere.
Predicting the system could dump as much as 18 inches of snow in
some spots, Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy joined New York Gov.
Andrew Cuomo, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Massachusetts
Gov. Deval Patrick in issuing emergency declarations for their
respective states.
"It's like a blizzard, you can't see far at all," CNN iReporter
Alban Ajro, 32, said Saturday night from Watertown, Connecticut.
"This is the first time that I can ever recall this kind of storm
happening before Halloween."
All domestic flights out of New Jersey's Newark International
Airport were canceled around 4 p.m. Saturday, according to an
announcement made at the airport. Frustrated passengers filled an
array of long lines, trying to change their tickets in light of
the storm.
Another airport in the Garden State, Teterboro, closed just after
2 p.m. before reopening hours later, the Federal Aviation
Administration reported on its website. The FAA also reported
major delays at New York's two airports -- 5 hours and 16 minutes
at John F. Kennedy and just 11 minutes better at LaGuardia.
Richard Roth, a CNN correspondent, was among those affected when
his Syracuse-to-Kennedy flight was diverted to Hartford because of
the storm. He sat with his fellow passengers on the runway at
Bradley International Airport for about four and a half hours, and
-- roughly eight hours after arriving -- he was still stuck in the
terminal.
"We're here in the dark now," Roth said Saturday evening. "There's
no hope, at the moment, in sight."
The Connecticut governor acknowledged that conditions "are not
very pleasant" at Bradley, where 23 flights have been diverted. He
added, "They're trying to get people off their planes as rapidly
as they can."
Rare snowstorm hits the northeast Rare snowstorm hits the
northeast
The early season snowstorm was the result of unseasonably cold air
mixing with a storm system on the East Coast.
As of 8 p.m., the storm had already dumped 10 inches of snow in
places as far afield as Ridgefield, Connecticut; Ogletown,
Pennsylvania; and Terra Alta, West Virginia, according to the
National Weather Service. Parts of New York and New Jersey
especially got buried, including 15.5 inches in West Milford, New
Jersey, and 12 inches in Harriman, New York.
Lesser, albeit still significant amounts were measured in other
locales around the northeast, including 1.3 inches of snow in New
York's Central Park as of 8 p.m. -- the most ever for this date
since record-keeping began in 1869. Snow continued to fall
Saturday night as the system moved over New England.
The storm's timing made it unique and caught some off-guard.
"We're used to a lot of snow here, but not this early," CNN
iReporter Michael Majosky, 34, said from Windber, Pennsylvania.
"We don't mind the snow -- it's pretty neat having it around
Halloween."
Winter storm warnings were in effect Saturday evening for a swath
of states, from Pennsylvania to eastern Maine. Along with heavy
snow, high winds gusting up to 50 mph were possible.
Forecasters' predictions of power outages and downed trees in some
areas bore fruit, as hundreds of thousands were without
electricity as of Saturday afternoon. The reason is that the
moisture content -- thus density -- of the falling snow was
particularly high given temperatures hovering around the freezing
point.
"Occupy" demonstrators face bite of wintry storm
Malloy, the Connecticut governor, said early Saturday night that
50,000 to 70,000 customers were losing power every hour, with the
leading utility Connecticut Light and Power reporting on its
website about 550,000 without service at 9 p.m. Saturday. The
governor cautioned that power crews are not out on the roads, and
won't return until road conditions improve markedly.
"If you are without power, you should expect to be without power
for a prolonged period of time," Malloy said.
About 600,000 customers were without power in New Jersey, in
addition to 290,000 in neighboring New York, according to figures
reported Saturday evening by power companies in those states.
Another 350,000 didn't have electricity in Pennsylvania due to the
storm.
Other states were affected as well, including at least 7,000
households in Maryland, 6,300 in Virginia who get service from
Dominion, and 1,400 Allegheny Power customers in West Virginia.
The storm had wreaked havoc on the roads, with Malloy noting "a
large number of spin-outs and vehicles going off the road" in his
state. He noted that -- in addition to the fatality -- a state
trooper was injured in a crash.
And in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, CNN meteorologist Chad Myers
warned that the wet snow would turn to ice in many spots overnight
due to freezing temperatures, making road conditions even more
perilous.
One positive is that the wintry weather shouldn't last too much
longer.
By Sunday afternoon, the storm is expected to have passed the
United States. Temperatures should warm by then -- including a
high of 49 forecast for Sunday in New York, warming into the
high-50s over the course of the week.
CNN's Greg Botelho, Greg Morrison, Sara Weisfeldt, Elizabeth
Cherneff and Sean Morris contributed to this report.