Northeastern US hit by second major storm in a week

It was less than a week ago that a major storm brought damaging winds and flooding rain to much of the northeastern part of the United States.

Five people died as winds of 80 kilometres an hour brought down power lines, leaving nearly 1.7 million properties without power.

A very similar system is now bringing similar winds and widespread snow from Philadelphia through New York, and Boston to Maine.

Some 900,000 homes are already without power and this figure is likely to rise as the storm continues to develop.

The combination of strong winds and wet snow has brought down many trees and power lines. One person is reported to have been killed when a tree collapsed in Suffern, New York.

Thunderstorms embedded within the low-pressure system increased the intensity of snow to as much as 10 centimetres an hour in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and eastern New York.

By the end of Wednesday, some parts of New Jersey and New York were under as much as 60cm of snow.

Travel disruption has been severe. The heaviest of the snow appears to have fallen along the I-95, causing major delays. Bus services were also suspended by New Jersey Transit on Wednesday, and Amtrak rail services were reduced or suspended.

Around 2,700 flights were cancelled across the country on Wednesday, including several hundred flights from New York’s three major airports.

Coastal flooding may be possible, although the risk is fairly low with the entry into a period of neap tides. In last week’s storm, the strongest of the winds coincided with the full moon and spring tides.

The snow is expected to continue moving northeastwards on Thursday, across Maine, into New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in Canada, before easing on Friday.