A nor’easter pounded the Atlantic coast with hurricane-force winds and sideways rain and snow Friday, flooding streets, grounding flights, stopping trains and leaving 1.6 million customers without power from North Carolina to Maine. At least four people were killed by falling trees or branches.
The storm submerged cars and toppled tractor-trailers, sent waves higher than a two-story house crashing into the Massachusetts coast, forced schools and businesses to close early and caused a rough ride for passengers aboard a flight that landed at Dulles Airport outside Washington. “Pretty much everyone on the plane threw up,” a pilot wrote in a report to the National Weather Service.
The Eastern Seaboard was hammered by gusts exceeding 50 mph, with winds of 80 to 90 mph on Cape Cod. Ohio and upstate New York got a foot or more of snow. Boston and Rhode Island were expected to get 2 to 5 inches.
The storm killed at least four people, including a 77-year-old woman struck by a branch outside her home near Baltimore. Fallen trees also killed a man and a 6-year-old boy in different parts of Virginia, an 11-year-old boy in New York state and a man in Newport, Rhode Island.
Floodwaters in Quincy, Massachusetts, submerged cars, and police rescued people trapped in their vehicles. More than 100 people had to be rescued Friday, and there were still more trapped in their homes by floodwater, CBS Boston reports.
Wayne Adams had no choice but to evacuate. “My garage, it was all the way up to my waist. The water was all the way up to my waist,” Adams told CBS Boston.
“I’ve lived here for five years I’ve seen lots of snowstorms, rainstorms, wind but I have never seen anything like this before,” Adams said. “That kind of flooding, I didn’t think it was possible.”
More than 4,000 people were without power in the city. No injuries have been reported.
High waves battered nearby Scituate, making roads impassable and turning parking lots into small ponds. More than 1,800 people alerted Scituate officials they had evacuated, The Boston Globe reported.
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker activated 200 National Guard members to help victims.
In Maryland, Gov. Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency due to the high winds, CBS Baltimore reports.
Airlines canceled more than 2,800 flights, mostly in the Northeast. LaGuardia and Kennedy airports in New York City were brought to a near standstill.
