Northeaster covers New York in snow, plunges 300,000 back into darkness
Snow, rain and dangerous winds plunge many resident of US northeast back into darkness
New York City and much of the US Northeast yesterday dug out from a snowstorm that walloped a region still struggling to recover from superstorm Sandy.
The unseasonably early winter storm dumped more than 30 cm of snow on parts of Connecticut and slapped the region with 80km/h winds, plunging another 300,000 homes and businesses back into darkness and creating a new commuting nightmare for a region whose transportation system was still under repairs.
Mark Fendrick, of Staten Island, tweeted: "My son had just got his power back 2 days ago now along comes this northeaster and it's out again."
Exactly as authorities feared, the storm brought down tree limbs and electrical wires, and utilities in New York and New Jersey reported that 60,000 customers who lost power because of Sandy lost it all over again as a result of the new storm.
"God hates us!" the New York Post said in a front-page headline. Some 8 cm to 15 cm of snow fell on the city.
"I am waiting for the locusts and pestilence next," New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered police to use loudspeakers to warn vulnerable residents, many of them in low-income public housing, about evacuating.