Northeast storm: 19 deaths and millions of homes still without power.
The unseasonable snowstorm, which brought up to 30 inches (76 cm) of snow in parts of the US East Coast over the weekend , has been blamed for as many as 19 deaths and millions of homes without power.
It was repoerted that power outages in two states exceeded damage wrought by Hurricane Irene.
Many schools are closed across the storm’s path, with children in the state of Connecticut warned to call off Halloween trick-or-treat plans.
The snowstorm fatalities, which include one death in Canada, were caused by traffic accidents, electrocutions and other causes as a result of the snowstorm.
Yesterday, about 750,000 households were still without power in Connecticut, where the storm damage was said to have surpassed that wreaked by Hurricane Irene in August
States of emergency were declared in New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and parts of New York.
Some states have warned it could be days or even a week before residents have power again. Crews have been brought in from as far away as Michigan and Canada.
Trees, branches and power lines still littered roads and rail lines throughout the region, making it difficult for many to get to work on Monday.
Connecticut officials warned residents to cancel their Halloween trick-or-treat plans.
“With so many wires down… the sidewalks will not be safe for pedestrians [Monday] night,” said Mark Boughton, mayor of the city of Danbury.
“We have 200 streets with wires down… [we] would hate to have children hurt.”
Yesterday, about 750,000 households were still without power in Connecticut, where the storm damage was said to have surpassed that wreaked by Hurricane Irene in August.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, whose own house lost power, also declared the damage worse than that from Hurricane Irene.
Among the deaths blamed on the storm were an 84-year-old Pennsylvania man killed by a tree that fell on his home, a person who died in a traffic accident in Connecticut and a 20-year-old man who was electrocuted in Massachusetts.
In New York City, a new record for October snowfall was set on Saturday when 1.3 inches fell in Central Park.
Only three other snowy October days in the US have been recorded in the park in 135 years of record-keeping.
Most of the Occupy Wall Street protesters in New York’s Zuccotti Park saw out the storm.
The storm brought chaos to flights schedules at New York airports, while Amtrak reported massive disruption to train services.
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