New York, Jan 28: A storm carrying the threat of heavy snow for the northeastern United States coated a wide swath of the country`s East Coast in ice, stopping trains, closing schools and courts, and knocking out electricity to a quarter-million people. At least 50 deaths have been blamed on snow, ice and cold from Kansas to the Carolinas since the weekend, most of them in traffic accidents.

While one low-pressure system pushed a wave of icy weather that stretched from Georgia into Maryland, another propelled snow across the Midwest and great lakes. Up to 21 inches of snow was possible in northern Michigan.


The two systems were converging over the Northeast, threatening Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York State, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. "I don`t like it at all," said Gisselle Garcia of Newark, New Jersey, as she waited for a train because roads were too slippery for her to drive. "It`s too cold. My toes get frozen. It`s not safe for kids to be outside. And old people slip and fall on the ice. Enough!"

Freezing rain and drizzle fell from Northern Georgia into Maryland last morning, creating a layer of ice up to an inch thick in South Carolina, where Gov. Mark sanford declared a state of emergency.

Bureau Report