East Coast Readies for Big Storm

Communities along the East Coast braced Friday for a powerful storm expected to form along the Carolinas and dump as much as 16 inches of snow in the first big snowfall in five years.

The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for today and cautioned against unnecessary travel as municipal officials prepared snowplows and salt spreaders and readied measures against possible coastal flooding. The storm was expected to reach Boston tonight.

Forecasters predicted the storm would develop near Cape Hatteras, N.C., late Friday and then rapidly intensify as it moved up the East Coast. At the same time, a storm in the Midwest was working its way east over the Appalachians, and the two were expected to merge.

High winds could cause blizzard conditions in some areas, the government meterologists said.

Fearing the worst, airlines began canceling flights for today.

Travelers at airports scrambled to change flights ahead of the storm, and New York City’s three major airports had tons of salt and sand ready to spread on slippery runways.

Continental Airlines said it would cancel up to 225 flights to and from the New York area. Seven international flights originating from Newark Airport were also scrubbed, the airline said.

“Check on your flight early and often,” said Chris Brathwaite of United Airlines. “And be patient, because there are going to be delays.”

Delta Air Lines trimmed its Saturday schedule in the Northeast, including fewer shuttle flights between Washington, New York’s La Guardia Airport and Boston.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which manages La Guardia, John F. Kennedy International Airport and the Newark, N.J., airport, has stockpiled more than 170,000 gallons of liquid anti-icing chemicals to clean snow and ice from runways and taxiways, and 1,800 tons of salt and 2,000 tons of sand were available for airport roads and parking lots.

New York City sanitation workers loaded 352 salt spreaders and prepared to operate about 1,600 snowplows. Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani said the city started preparing for the storm three or four days ago.

“We have done this before,” said John Francis, deputy chief of the city’s Sanitation Department.

During the city’s last big storm in January 1996, “we had up to 30 inches in some of our boroughs,” he said. “We’ve actually got a little more equipment, more spreaders.

“I feel quite confident we’ll be ready. All our equipment will be fine.”

Plans call for more than 5,000 municipal workers to help fight the effects of the storm.

In New Jersey, Gov. Christine Todd Whitman said 1,800 snowplows were standing by.

Some hardware stores in New Jersey sold all their supplies of shovels, sleds and rock salt.

Shore True Value Hardware in Somers Point, N.J., sold all 300 shovels. Another delivery was expected, and Austin Gibbons, 79, said he would be back. In the meantime, he was headed to a liquor store: “I need a bottle of J&B.;

Customers at Pennington Market in Pennington, N.J., bought milk, bread and soup--along with snacks and deli trays--to prepare for both the storm and the New Year’s weekend.

Shoppers at Pelican Ski & Snowboard Shops in Morris Plains, N.J., grabbed sleds along with snow boots and longjohns.

Pelican store owner Ken Spilatro said sales have doubled in the last few days, a welcome development after a stretch of warm winters.

“We’ve been waiting for this for a couple of years,” he said.

In Philadephia, ground crews borrowed heaters and other equipment from stadiums in Pittsburgh and New Jersey to protect the field and clear the stands of snow for the playoff game Sunday between the Eagles and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Morton Salt company in Providence, R.I., had 15 extra trucks and a dozen extra crew members helping customers dig into a 60-foot salt pile to keep public works departments supplied.

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Times wire services contributed to this story.