|
 The East Coast's first significant snowfall of the season dumped
as much as 6 inches on northern Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania,
Delaware and southern New England, according to the National Weather
Service.
By midday the storm had blown through Washington, D.C., where
federal government offices were shut for the day, the Office of
Personnel Management said. In neighboring Delaware, Governor Jack
Markell announced state offices were shut and urged residents to
stay off dangerously slick roads.
New Jersey roads were littered with fender benders and some more
serious accidents, including a jack-knifed tractor trailer and a bus
that skidded off the road.
"It was like dominoes. Cars couldn't get up the hills," said Stanley
Jackson, who was plowing snow in northern New Jersey. "People were
just sliding into one another."
In Oklahoma, the medical examiner said winter weather was
responsible for 11 deaths ranging from traffic accidents on icy
roads to falling into icy waters.
Snowflakes falling on Times Square in New York City thrilled
tourists, including Janet Major, 57, from England.
"It's like 'Miracle on 34th Street.' It's added to the holiday
atmosphere," said Major, referring to the classic Christmas movie.
Alberto Rodriguez, 45, an auto repair mechanic from Orlando,
Florida, agreed.
"I'm so happy. In the four years I've been coming here, I've never
seen the snow. And this is my last day in the city," Rodriguez said.
The city declared a snow alert and readied 365 salt spreaders, 282
front-end snow loaders and 1,800 plows, said Belinda Mager,
spokeswoman for the city Sanitation Department.
More than 1,600 flights were canceled, most of them in Newark, New
Jersey, Philadelphia and New York, according to FlightAware.com,
which tracks air travel.
School districts in Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, suburban
Maryland, New Jersey and New York canceled classes.
[to top of second column] |
The new snowfall followed a swath of snow and sleet that swept
through the nation over the weekend and Monday, dumping as much as
10 inches on many areas.
Strong winds, expected to blow through the nation's midsection until
Wednesday, created wind chills that made temperatures on Tuesday
feel like minus 20F (minus 28C) in the Northern Plains and minus 10F
(minus 23C) in the Midwest, meteorologist Andrew Baglini said on
Accuweather.com.
Temperatures were 8 degrees below zero (minus 17.8 Celsius) in
Pershing County, Nevada, on Tuesday morning as rescue workers
searched for a couple and four young children who were reported
missing on Sunday while visiting an abandoned mining camp. They were
found hours later, safe and in good condition, huddled in a canyon
in a remote mountain range northeast of Reno, said the Pershing
County Sheriff's Office.
Homes and businesses from Indiana to West Virginia that lost power
on Monday were returning to normal on Tuesday, including in Virginia
where 15,000 people remained without power, down from 122,000 on
Monday.
"Right now, we're looking at a lot of busted tree tops. That's
always going to bring down a lot of poles and lines," said Phil
Moye, spokesman for Appalachian Electric Power in West Virginia,
where more than 7,500 people remained without power.
(Additional reporting by Curtis Skinner in New York, Carey Gillam in
Kansas City, Ian Simpson in Washington, D.C., Heidi Brandes in
Oklahoma City and Riley Snyder in Reno; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe,
Leslie Adler, Cynthia Osterman and James Dalgleish)
[© 2013 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2013 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
