Snow, High Wind, Floods Make Northeast Miserable

Scores of truckers were stranded and thousands of people were left without power Friday as the worst storm of the season covered New England and the Northeast with up to 30 inches of snow.

The snow, however, was only part of the region’s misery. Heavy rains along the coast caused flooding in parts of eastern Massachusetts, and a low pressure system off Cape Cod spawned winds that howled across southern New England at more than gale force, knocking down power lines.

A wind gust of 63 m.p.h. was recorded at Logan International Airport in Boston, National Weather Service forecaster Frank Coppola said.

At the peak of the snow and wind, more than 55,000 customers were without electricity in Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Phone service also was cut off in Brattleboro, Vt., where firefighters patrolled the streets looking for emergencies.

Firefighters on Patrol

In Worcester, Mass., firefighters used boats to evacuate several people when floodwaters rose to nearly five feet above street level in front of their homes.

One traffic death, in Lowell, Mass., was blamed on the storm.

Hundreds of minor traffic accidents were reported before the storm began diminishing Friday.

Ski officials were delighted.

“This is the best Christmas present a ski area could ask for,” said Dick Courcelle, spokesman for the Killington, Vt., area, which received 28 inches of snow.

But to utility officials, it was a nightmare.

“It’s a real mess,” said Ray Hull of New York state’s Niagara Mohawk Power Corp., where 22,000 customers were affected. “This snow is like wet cement.”

‘Tree-Popping Snow’

Power lines rigged to withstand the rigors of the worst of Adirondack Mountain winters sagged to the ground, and Hull said there were reports of some poles “being sheared off entirely from the weight of the snow.”

A five-mile stretch of Interstate 91 just north of the Vermont-Massachusetts border was closed for several hours Friday morning, said Ray Burke, a highway department spokesman. At one time, 60 tractor-trailer trucks were reported stuck on the highway.

“I’ll tell you, we were bombarded with up to 30 inches of wet, heavy, tree-popping snow,” Burke said. “It’s a mess.”