Winter storms batter northern US

Icey and wet roads and pavements were blamed for many of the deaths with one occurring during a 15-car accident in the eastern state of New Jersey that also injured 28 people.

 

“It’s snowing so hard you can hardly keep your eyes open,” said Bill Swain, a spokesman for a ski resort in a mountainous part of the northeastern state of Maine, on Monday.

 

Hundreds of flights into the New York City area’s three main airports – Kennedy, Newark Liberty and LaGuardia – and at Chicago’s O’Hare were delayed over the weekend.

 

Power supplies were cut across the northern US leaving tens of thousands without electricity.

 

More bad weather was also expected in the northeast and the National Weather Service said a foot (one-third of a metre) of snow was possible in parts of Maine.

 

Winter storm warnings were also in effect in Vermont, New Hampshire, and northern and western New York.

 

 

Transport officials in the state of Oregon warned drivers not to attempt to use coastal roads as the second of two storms blew through.

 

Christine Miles, a transportation department spokeswoman, said on Monday: “This storm is hitting the coast so hard, it’s not leaving any road open.”

 

Wind gusts of more than 160 kph were reported along the Oregon coast, with the highest reading at 207 kph at Bay City, the Weather Service said.

 

Helicopter rescues were being launched for stranded hikers and residents trapped by flooding, state emergency management officials said.

 

In southwestern Washington state, one man died when a tree fell on him as he was trying to clear one that had been toppled, a local police chief said.

 

Another died of a medical problem after the power went out, he said.