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Nor'easter kills seven, cuts power to 300,000
By: cnn.comPosted On: 03/15/2010 12:57 P
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Seven deaths have been attributed to the nor'easter affecting the Eastern Seaboard, and more than 300,000 customers remained without power Monday in the Northeast after rain and fierce winds.
Seven deaths have been attributed to the nor'easter affecting the Eastern Seaboard, and more than 300,000 customers remained without power Monday in the Northeast after rain and fierce winds.
Five of the deaths were because of falling trees, police said.
Hurricane-force winds over the weekend toppled trees, taking power lines with them. Heavy rain has caused flooding across the region.
Flood warnings were in effect from northern Virginia to southern New Hampshire, the National Weather Service said.
The city of Alexandria, along the Potomac River across from Washington, distributed nearly 800 sandbags to those in low-lying areas that typically are first to see high water. A coffee shop there experienced minor flooding, said Alexandria official Rich Baier.
Some coastal areas have received more than 6 inches of rain since Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.
Con Edison said that more than 86,000 customers were without power Monday in New York City and Westchester County, New York, while the Long Island Power Authority said that 64,437 customers were in the dark. In New Jersey, about 100,000 were without power. Flooding caused 2,000 customers in New Jersey to lose their gas service, PSEG said.
Connecticut Light and Power said that about 56,000 customers also had no power Monday. And in Pennsylvania, utility companies had restored power to a majority of residents, but the outage still affected more than 5,000.
"The ground is so wet from all the snow we've had this winter, it's helping the trees to topple over as well as our utility poles," said Long Island Power Authority President and CEO Kevin Law. "The conditions are still too terrible to get crews out there."
Some customers probably will go without power for a few days, Law said.
The outages were due mostly to power lines downed by Saturday's winds, which knocked over trees and utility polls. Wind speeds reached 75 mph at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport -- as strong as a Category 1 hurricane -- and 72 mph in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
James Durosier, an iReporter from Rahway, New Jersey, said the storm's aftermath reminded him of a scene from an action movie.
"The way the whole scene looked was just incredible," Durosier said Sunday of the damage in the area. "Power lines were hanging, street signs knocked down, and it was very quiet."
Meanwhile, in the Great Plains, the Red River is expected to reach major flood stage Tuesday around Fargo, North Dakota, and adjacent Moorhead, Minnesota.
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