Storm Delivers Paralyzing Blow to New Yorkers

A “catastrophic” winter storm packing hurricane-force wind gusts slammed into the Northeast on Friday, trapping motorists and homeowners in floodwaters so deep in spots that scuba divers and small boats were necessary for rescues. The violent weather stopped all subway service in New York City and, on some bridges, toppled huge trucks as if they were Christmas toys.

A spokesman for the National Weather Service labeled it “one of the worst coastal storms ever,” while residents marveled at its intensity.

“I feel like I’m caught in something biblical, you know, one of the great plagues,” said Theresa Jenkins, a shopper who drove into Manhattan from the suburbs and who lingered in a bookstore unwilling to drive home through the gridlock. “I’m expecting to see Noah’s ark come floating up 3rd Avenue.”

Six people died from the storm in Pennsylvania and a woman was killed in Jersey City, N.J., when the roof of her home collapsed. But no deaths were reported in New York as hundreds of police and firefighters made rescues amid downed trees, flying debris and sparking power lines.

Wind gusts measured at 77 m.p.h. in New York City and 90 m.p.h. in New Jersey came ashore along with high tides and bands of torrential rain. Highways were turned into lakes and streets into streams. La Guardia Airport was swamped: 55-gallon drums loosened by the winds floated down runways under four feet of water.

For a time at high tide, entire New York City neighborhoods were cut off by floodwaters; north of the city, more than 1 1/2 feet of snow fell.

“The life you save will be your own,” the weather bureau advised in a statement calling the storm “catastrophic” and urging New Yorkers not to travel.

Gov. Mario M. Cuomo declared New York City and its suburbs a disaster area and authorized the National Guard to help. In Connecticut, where hundreds of people were evacuated from low-lying areas in Milford and East Haven, Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. also declared an emergency.

“There is no electricity. There are cars flooded above the roof line. Police are evacuating by boat,” said Chris Kall, a realtor and resident of City Island in the Bronx. “I have lived here 32 years and have never seen anything like this in my life.”

New Jersey Gov. James J. Florio declared a statewide emergency and ordered the National Guard to help evacuate residents of coastal communities. The Atlantic Ocean overwhelmed the main streets of Sea Bright, N.J., where military personnel using boats and heavy duty trucks rescued homeowners and took them to shelters.

As many as 5,000 people were said to be in Red Cross shelters in New Jersey, where power to more than 100,000 people was disrupted.

As the storm slowed and lingered off the Atlantic Coast near New York, fears arose that darkness and expected evening tidal surges today could deepen the disaster.

At midmorning, terrified motorists scrambled for their lives as the East River surged over the Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive in Manhattan, already flooded by torrential rains. Waters that rose quickly trapped drivers in their stalled cars.

On a section of the highway running directly beneath the official residence of New York’s mayor, David N. Dinkins, police used scuba equipment to free drivers as waves lapped over windshields.

On other sections of the highway, emergency workers used chain saws in the pelting rain to cut large holes through the center divider guardrail so northbound vehicles could turn around and head to safety.

“We can only do so much right now,” said one harassed policeman.

Eric Freedman, 38, a law professor at Hofstra University, was heading north on the highway when his car was halted by floodwaters seeping through the doors.

“Those people whose cars stalled where the water was relatively deep, they were in some danger,” Freedman said. “When they emerged, they discovered the water was waist high or higher. The police gave priority to those people.”

Along the shore of New Jersey and Long Island and portions of New York City, there was serious beach erosion. The weather service said that some areas of Long Island had lost seven feet of beach in what it called the most intense coastal storm since the 1950s.

A portion of the Steeplechase Pier, a tourist attraction at Coney Island in Brooklyn toppled. So did part of the pier at Playland, a popular amusement park in Rye, N.Y., in Westchester County, north of the city.

Meteorologists recorded winds of 90 m.p.h. at Atlantic City, in southern New Jersey, where casino gambling continued during the storm. More than a foot of snow fell on ski resorts in the northern part of the Garden State.

Wayne Albright, a meteorologist, said: “People who have lived through this storm will have lived through probably the highest tides this century on the southern New Jersey coastline.”

Almost three feet of snow was reported in parts of Pennsylvania. A roof heavy with snow collapsed in Pittsburgh, killing three employees of a printing company. Up to 37 inches of snow was reported in parts of the state and about 300,000 homes lost electricity. Wind gusts of 80 m.p.h. threatened to blow a church steeple onto the Benjamin Franklin Bridge linking Philadelphia with New Jersey. The bridge was closed.

Virginia’s Gov. L. Douglas Wilder sent the National Guard to evacuate up to 2,500 rural residents isolated by two feet of snow since Thursday around Winchester.

Weather forecasters said the storm stalled just south of New York City, where for hours, all subways were shut because of flooding, which knocked out signal lights. The Staten Island Ferry stopped running, as did commuter rail lines linking Lower Manhattan with New Jersey. La Guardia Airport remained closed early today and there were extensive air traffic delays at Newark (N.J.) and Kennedy airports as well as at airports in Boston and Philadelphia. Flights to points as far away as Los Angeles were affected.

As news spread that train service had been halted, the streets of Manhattan turned into pedestrian chaos. Thousands of riders clambered out of subway stations and started looking for alternate means of transportation, but little was available.

People frantically scurried for cabs, and buses were quickly overloaded. For many, the only option was to walk bareheaded through sheets of rain to their destinations.

Down in a subway tunnel near City Hall, a young businessman angrily slammed his briefcase down on the station platform when officials announced over a loudspeaker that all service had ceased.

“That’s it, I’m leaving New York,” he fumed to a friend. Nearby, an older woman looked at him and said, “Honey, right now, you aren’t going anywhere.”

Outside, the streets were littered with hundreds of broken umbrellas, some of them flattened against building walls and windows, driven by the sheer force of the wind. Trash cans and bus signs were overturned, and busy intersections were flooded. Ambulance and police sirens kept up a steady wail while angry motorists caught up in traffic honked their horns.

The hurricane-force winds blew out windows from some skyscrapers and apartment houses. Signs threatened to become lethal weapons as they flew through the air. During a breakfast for security analysts in a dining room high atop the Newsweek Building on Madison Avenue in Manhattan, wind gusts shook the floor-to-ceiling windows and lights flickered. Members of the audience, including Katherine Graham, chairwoman of the Washington Post Co., looked on anxiously.

With the commute interrupted, some financial markets closed early.

At the height of the storm, police radio dispatchers were so busy they were talking over each other as they rushed rescue equipment to some neighborhoods. The single bridge linking City Island in the Bronx with the mainland was covered by four feet of water and police emergency trucks were unable to cross.

At the usually busy Seashore Restaurant & Marina on City Island, employee Michael Wharton said that only two customers braved the storm. The restaurant is surrounded by water on three sides with scenic views of Long Island Sound.

“You could see boats that had been torn from their moorings floating out into the sound. They’d start to list and then capsize,” said Wharton. “We saw two of them go down completely, and there’ll be more.”

“The debris floating away is incredible. It’s not just timbers off the docks, but whole sections, 10 or 12 planks together, drifting out.”

Water ripped through seawalls all along the coast. On Staten Island, some residents taking refuge on the upper floors of flooded homes had to wait for hours until rescuers arrived. Police urged callers not to dial 911 unless they faced emergencies.

The high winds left thousands without power throughout New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The National Weather Service in Manhattan said that heavy snow was causing widespread power outages north of New York City and that almost four inches of rain had fallen in some sections. Meteorologists said unofficial wind readings of 80 m.p.h. were reported.

National Guardsmen were called out to help with evacuations in Quincy, Mass., and five other towns declared emergencies, including Nahant where 150 were evacuated.

At Rockefeller Center, the wind whipped the limbs and ornaments of New York’s most famous Christmas tree. But the 65-foot Norway spruce, supported by four cables, stood firm.

“It’s never blown over, and this is the 60th tree,” said Jim Reed, a Rockefeller Center spokesman.

Times staff writers Josh Getlin, Barry Bearak, Victor Zonana and Scot Paltrow contributed to this story.

Wind and Tides Deliver One-Two Punch

Coastal flooding along the East Coast was caused by an on-shore wind coupled with extra high tides. Heavy snow added to the troubles. Among the hardest-hit areas: New York: Wind and flooding shut subways and bridges. LaGuardia Airport closes. Staten Island Ferry shalted as high waves washed New York Harbor. New Jersey: High tide was expected to be 5 feet above normal in some coastal areas. Gov. James J. Florio declared a limited state of emergency for 10 counties. Pennsylvania: Nearly 3 feet of snow was reported in some parts of the state. Virginia: Off the eastern shore, a tug managed to corral an oil barge that had broken loose in 15- to 20-foot seas (28 miles southeast of Chincoteague Island). The barge carried about 400,000 gallons of fuel oil. Others: Wind-driven coastal flooding also affected Massachusetts, Connecticut and Maryland’s eastern shore.