NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Transportation in the Northeast was hard-hit on Sunday by a rare October snowstorm that plastered the area with snowfall on the weekend, cutting power to more than two million homes and killing at least three people.
The heaviest snow was recorded in Western Massachusetts, where 27.8 inches was measured in Plainfield, according to the National Weather Service. Just 45 minutes northwest of New York City, in West Milford, New Jersey, 19 inches of snow fell.
"A historic October storm is still crushing New England with heavy snow and howling winds," said meteorologist Meghan Evans on Accuweather.com on Sunday.
The storm was expected to exit Maine later on Sunday, but not before dumping up to a foot of snow on northern New England states, particularly southern Vermont, the NWS said.
The heavy, wet snow snapped enormous trees like twigs, downing power lines from West Virginia to Massachusetts.
New Jersey Transit and Metro-North Railroad suspended service on several lines into New York City on Saturday and continued the suspension on Sunday.
Flights at New York City area airports were widely canceled. Authorities warned drivers to stay off icy roads, which claimed at least one life during the storm.
Slippery conditions on a roadway caused the crash and death of a man driving in Colchester, Connecticut, said Scott Devico, a spokesman for the Connecticut Department of Emergency Management.
Two other deaths were blamed on the storm. In Temple, Pennsylvania, an 84-year-old man was killed when a snow-caked tree fell through his home, said a Muhlenberg Township Police Department dispatcher.
In Springfield, Massachusetts, a 20-year-old man was electrocuted when he stepped out of his vehicle and touched an electrified guard rail, a Springfield police spokesman said.
WEATHER EMERGENCIES
New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts declared weather emergencies because of the storm.
Snow fell on Saturday, some at record amounts, across most of Pennsylvania well into Massachusetts after blanketing parts of Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland.
The unseasonably early storm broke a snow record that had stood since 1969 for New York's Central Park, which received 2.9 inches of snow, the National Weather Service said.
"Are we allowed to curse?" said Philadelphia area resident Marjory Levitt. She had discovered that an expensive pair of boots were not waterproof when she ventured out to the supermarket.
Widespread power outages caused by snow, ice and falling trees were reported from the Mid-Atlantic into New England, leaving some two million customers without power.
Major delays were reported on Saturday at Philadelphia International Airport and at New York area airports. At least 1,000 flights had been canceled and Teterboro Airport in New Jersey closed for a period of time, according to flight tracking service FlightAware.com.
In Connecticut, Governor Dannel Malloy ordered non-emergency vehicles off the Wilbur Cross and Merritt Parkways due to dangerous driving conditions.
The snow posed traffic and parking problems for some 100,000 college football fans attending a game between Penn State and the University of Illinois in State College, Pennsylvania. Snow plows had to clear the field before the game.
In New York City, several hundred people camped in a park in the city's financial district to protest against economic inequality hunkered down in their tents from the wind, rain, sleet and snow.
They desperately tried to stay warm just a day after the fire department, citing safety hazards, confiscated generators that had been powering heat, computers and a kitchen.
The storm caused massive power outages including 606,388 customers reported by Connecticut Light and Power; 214,000 by PPL Electric Utilities in Pennsylvania; 341,000 without power from PSE&G in New Jersey; more than 300,000 by First Energy in Pennsylvania and New Jersey; more than 77,000 by Con Edison in New York and more than 66,000 by Allegheny Power in Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
Another 205,890 customers of National Grid in Massachusetts and New York were without power and 17,467 customers reported by The United Illuminating Company in Connecticut.
(Additional reporting by Lauren Keiper in Boston; Eric Johnson in Chicago; Ben Schmitt in Pittsburgh, Dave Warner in Philadelphia and Michelle Nichols in New York; Editing by Jerry Norton)
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