New York: A severe winter storm battered the northeastern US for a second day on Saturday, killing at least two people and severing power and transport links for millions of people as the monster blizzard dumped more than a foot and a half of snow on New York and Connecticut.
The blizzard dubbed as `Nemo` brought life to a standstill with wind and heavy snow snapping power lines and forcing more than half-a-million customers to sit in homes without electricity, including 389,000 in Massachusetts, 177,000 in Rhode Island, and 35,000 in Connecticut, authorities said.
The furious storm dumped more than a foot and a half of snow on New York state and Connecticut, forcing authorities to cancel several schools across the region and asking people to stay off the streets.
Air travels in or out of New York halted yesterday with airlines cancelling 3,775 flights till today and all flights in and out of Boston`s Logan International Airport getting cancelled, according to flight tracker FlightAware.Com.
A 74-year-old man was killed when a young woman lost control over her car in the snow on a highway in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, while another man was killed after he lost control of his car and hit a tree in Auburn, New Hampshire, media reports said.
Minor injuries were reported in a 19-car pileup on Interstate 295 in Falmouth, Maine, caused by poor visibility and slippery road conditions.
New York, one of the world`s busiest air travel hubs, was cut off from the skies as snow and wind led airlines to suspend all operations at LaGuardia, Newark Liberty and John F Kennedy International airports.
"This one doesn`t come along every day. This is going to be a dangerous winter storm," meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Massachusetts Alan Dunham said yesterday in a CBS News report.
"Wherever you need to get to, get there by Friday afternoon and don`t plan on leaving."
In addition to the road and air snarl-ups, the rail service Amtrak said trains from New York northbound and also southbound to the capital Washington were being suspended.
The storm came a little over three months after Hurricane Sandy devastated swathes of New York and New Jersey, killing 132 people and causing damage worth some USD 71.4 billion.
PTI
