A powerful blizzard struck Boston and surrounding New England on Tuesday, leaving some 4.5 million people grappling with as much as three feet of snow and coastal flooding, but sparing New York City residents who had braced for a significant blast.
Snow was forecast to keep falling into early Wednesday in eastern New England, possibly setting a record snowfall in Boston. At Logan International Airport, 20.8 inches of snow was on the ground late afternoon, swept higher in parts by strong winds. Boston-area subways were closed.
Further south, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut escaped the worst of the storm, despite dire predictions by meteorologists and officials. Travel bans in those States were lifted, and New York City’s subway system was restarted after being closed for 10 hours.
The heaviest snowfall was recorded outside Boston, with 33.1 inches in Lunenburg, Massachusetts, and 32.5 inches reported in Auburn, according to the National Weather Service.
Some 45,900 customers across the storm-hit region were without power, according to local utilities, with the bulk of the outages on Massachusetts’ Cape Cod and outlying islands.
New Yorkers were divided on whether Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio had over-reacted ahead of the storm. Mr. Cuomo had ordered a total travel ban on all roads in the southern part of the State and oversaw the closing of the subway system, the first time in history due to snow.
Cuomo defends decision Mr. Cuomo defended the decisions, saying he favoured “a lean toward safety.”
“I have seen the consequences the other way,” he said. “I would rather be in a situation where we say ‘We got lucky.’”
A blizzard warning remained in effect for much of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and parts of Maine.
More than 4,700 U.S. flights were cancelled on Tuesday, according to FlightAware.com, with more than 80 per cent of scheduled flights at airports in New York, Philadelphia and Boston affected.
