Nearly 2 Million Homes, Businesses Still Without Power After East Coast Storm
Seven deaths, spread over six states, were reported as a result of trees falling
Nearly 2 million households and businesses remained without power Saturday on the U.S. East Coast after a heavy storm system brought rain, snow and hurricane-force winds to states from Maine, where the governor declared a state of emergency, all the way to North Carolina. Seven deaths were reported as a result of trees falling during the storm, in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Maine Governor Charlie Baker declared a state of emergency on Saturday, as did the governors of Virginia and Maryland a day earlier. The declaration gives those states access to federal funds to help with storm recovery. Baker said the National Guard was deployed in parts of Maine to evacuate and rescue people in hard-hit areas. By late Saturday, Amtrak train service suspended during the storm had begun again, although with delays. More than a quarter of flights were canceled in and out of airports in New York and Boston. The storm set in on Friday, bringing winds up to 145 kph (90 mph) and flooding the streets of Boston and nearby coastal towns. More flooding was expected late Saturday, during high tide. In New York and Pennsylvania, the private forecasting service AccuWeather said as much as 46 centimeters (18 inches) of rain had fallen. And in upstate New York, some areas were hit with a meter (3.2 feet) of snow. Meteorologists nicknamed the storm a "bomb cyclone," the second such phenomenon in two months, named for how quickly the barometric pressure falls during such an event.