LOS ANGELES: Ten of thousands of New England and New York homes and businesses were without power on Wednesday in the aftermath of a Nor’easter that dumped up to 3 feet of snow on the region, while a new atmospheric river storm raised the threat of more flooding in California.
In the Northeast, the late-winter blizzard dumped about 0.6 m of snow in the Berkshire mountains of western Massachusetts and northwestern Connecticut, and a foot or more in parts of New York’s Hudson Valley.
Across Massachusetts the accumulations varied greatly. In Colrain in the northwestern part of the state near the Vermont border, 91 cm of snow was on the ground, while Boston’s suburbs had about an inch.
Half of all flights out of Albany International Airport, in upstate New York, were cancelled on Tuesday.
The Nor’easter left about 190,000 homes and businesses in New York and New England without power as of Wednesday morning.
In California, about an equal number of customers had no electric service on Wednesday in the wake of the latest in a series of atmospheric river storms to churn through the state this winter.
Thousands of residents had evacuated in the already-saturated state, where up to 10 inches of rain fell in the north, and even 4 inches of rain in Los Angeles.
Along California’s coast and lower inland areas, the heavy rain and melting alpine snow triggered renewed flooding from rain-swollen rivers and streams, compromising levees. Forecasts warned of widespread uprooting of trees and downed power lines from winds gusting up to 113 km per hour.
As much as 3 feet of fresh snow accumulated in
high-mountain elevations where snowdrifts already reach rooftops, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). — Reuters
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