Northeast Is Cold, Dark in Storm’s Wake

Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses sat cold and dark across the Northeast on Saturday as utility crews backed by National Guard troops hacked through the wreckage of trees brought down by a vast ice storm.

Utilities cautioned that it could be days before all power is restored, or even weeks in some places.

President Clinton declared a federal state of emergency Saturday for a five-county area of northern New York state, where Gov. George Pataki asked the federal government for blankets, food, drinking water and a truckload of diapers.

Local states of emergency were in effect in parts of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

In Maine, two people died of apparent carbon monoxide poisoning while trying to heat their homes with generators.

*

In Waterville, a man and his wife were overcome by carbon monoxide as they slept Friday night. He died and she was in critical condition. In Newport, a 73-year-old man died, apparently of carbon monoxide poisoning. He was discovered Saturday.

In both cases, the generators were in the basement, but there was no ventilation.

Last week’s huge storm system caused floods across the South and spread thick ice across the Northeast and the eastern third of Canada, where 11 deaths had been blamed on the storm.

Though the storm finally ended Saturday, Montreal remained a stricken city--many of its residents without power and water, streets littered with fallen branches and dangerous chunks of ice crashing from the trees.

Canada’s second-largest city had about 15,000 people living in shelters set up at schools, libraries and community centers.

An estimated 1.2 million homes and businesses were still without electricity in Quebec province. The utility company Hydro-Quebec warned that some areas might not have power for weeks.

Parts of Montreal were without water because electric pumps were not working, and officials urged residents to boil their water and reduce consumption.

The Montreal Canadiens canceled their hockey game Saturday night with the New York Rangers. The Rolling Stones canceled a Sunday concert after officials discovered that the storm had caused a tear in the flexible roof at Olympic Stadium.

The Canadian military had deployed about 6,000 troops to assist relief efforts and help clear away trees. About 4,000 are working in Quebec and about 2,000 in eastern Ontario around Ottawa, the national capital.

In Maine, Central Maine Power Co. said an estimated 212,000 homes and businesses were still without power Saturday night, and Bangor Hydro Electric Co. spokesman Bill Cohen admitted that “we’ve stopped trying to count.”

New Hampshire utilities still had about 34,500 homes and businesses without electricity, and Vermont had 9,000 blacked out. New York utilities did not have figures for homes and businesses, but officials estimated that the blackouts affected half a million people.

Estimates put more than 7,330 people staying in 127 shelters in upstate New York.

Sunshine and rising temperatures both helped and hurt on Saturday. Ice coating trees in layers up to 2 inches thick began to melt and fall off in glittering chunks that crashed to the ground and endangered utility crews.

The melting caused flooding in parts of upstate New York, and hundreds of families were evacuated along the Hudson and Mohawk rivers.

A force of 120 National Guard Humvees rolled across the countryside around Plattsburgh, N.Y., to clear paths for ambulances and food trucks. The Guard also sent 1,500 soldiers to help.