It is expected that a strong storm is all set to hit the Northeast with heavy downpour and winds. On Saturday, the areas will also witness the uprising waves. The storm has already killed five people and lead to 3000 cancelled flights. It has already brought in a lot of misfortune for the residents as 1 million customers have already lost their power service. 44,000 of these people belonged to Massachusetts. The storm also caused huge traffic. In Virginia 301,671 people were without power while in Washington D.C. more than 154000 people were without the power.
Northeast Storm
These furious storm hit Massachusetts on Friday and is expected to be continuing till Saturday. Coastal areas witnessed high floods due to high tides especially in Boston. The streets of the other towns were also affected due to the high tides for the second time, the first being in early January. The reports state that the high tides will hit Boston either on late Friday night or late Saturday morning.
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The Boston streets were “paddled down” by Kayakers. Near Quincy, 50 people were rescued by the national guardsmen, from their homes. CNN affiliate WBZ reported that these people were being carried to scoopers of front end loaders to ensure the safety of the people. The coastal flooding warning was issued over twenty two million people on Friday. A resident of Quincy, Christine Way-Cotter expressed her relief on being saved. She said, “Our house is lifted so, like, nothing came into our first floor but our whole basement is probably 6 feet under water.”
The Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said that the National Guard was called. He warned, “Do not ride out the storm if you are told to evacuate.” It is also being said that the people who lost power would not get it back anytime soon.
In a news conference on Friday night, the director of Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency said, “People in these homes need to plan for a prolonged outage, this is a multi-day restoration event.”
The MEMA also added, “This is one of the more extreme storms in recent memory in terms of coastal flooding and damaging wind potential along the coast, but also includes heavy wet snow and heavy rain as important factors.”
Northeast Storm: The dead
The storm has reportedly killed five people till now. They were a 77 year old woman of Kingsville, Mayland, an 11 year old boy of Putnam County, New York, 44 year old man of James City County, Virginia, a juvenile of Chesterfield County, Virginia and a man of 70 years old in Rhode Island. The cause of their death was reported of being stuck under the falling trees.
However, on late Friday morning, the huge storm changed into a “bomb cyclone” after undergoing the “bombogenesis” owing to the sudden and extreme drop of the atmospheric pressure.
The CNN meteorologist Judson James reported, “Since 10 a.m., Thursday until now, this storm has rapidly dropped in pressure, officially passing the definition of 24 millibars in 24 hours. It continues to strengthen”.
Northeast Storm: The Cancelled Flights
Owing to these heavy downpours and strong winds, 3000 flights were cancelled with hundreds of the Boston, Philadelphia and New York airports. The landing of a plane in Washington area left the passengers as well as the crew nauseous. The Federal Aviation Administration also reported that in certain airports of the Eastern coast, flights were delayed.
Several airlines such as Delta, United and Southwest reportedly planned on to return the fees due to cancellation of flights.
The train service was also stopped between New York and Boston as announced by Amtrak. As reported by Amtrak, the service would be resumed after being modified on the Northeast Corridor between Washington and New York City.
The offices, schools remained closed in the Washington area while the trash collection was suspended. Coastal warnings were issued when the high tides started advancing in the New England area. Michelle Shaffer who was evacuated from Hull, Massachusetts told the WCVB of CNN, “This storm is going to be worse, because it’s going to be over three tides”.
The Gov. of New York, Andrew Cuomo said “March is coming in like rain.”
Northeast Storm: The expected Coastal Floodings
Due to full moon, tides will be high this month and the storm may lead to rise of 4 feet in waters. Boston Harbor may witness high tides owing to the heavy cyclone on late Friday night as reported by Jones. The high tide that occurred on late Friday morning was about to reach a height of 14.67 feet. But it felt a little short and went still in to the water splashing the streets of Eastern Boston.
The heavy winds, rain and high tides would not be slowing down any time soon.
Northeast Storm: The Strong Winds
Owing to this strong winds, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey are already safeguarding the cranes meant for the construction of LaGuardia Airport. The warnings for the ferocious winds are also issued in Boston for the Saturday morning. It is expected that the winds will hit at a speed of 65 mph. The winds will supposedly affect the trees and power lines in New Jersey. Laura Ware, public involvement manager of Tappan Zee Constructors LLC said, “Barges associated with the project are equipped with GPS tracking devices and immediately transmitted notifications to our management team when they traveled beyond project limits”.
Northeast Storm: Heavy snowfall
The areas will be struck heavy and wet snow which will affect the trees and power lines leading to power cut. The cities which will likely suffer are Philadelphis and New York. These areas will experience snow along with heavy downpour of rain. Inland New England will also suffer from the snowfall. Buffalo, in Western New York has reported to have 17 inches of snow.
Talking of the heavy snow Cuomo said, “Heavy, wet snow fell overnight and snow will continue into the evening hours tonight. Snow will turn drier and lighter and combined with strong winds, will cause dangerous conditions making driving extremely hazardous from blowing and drifting snow.”
