America
Snowstorm wreaks havoc in US northeast coast
Washington, Jan 28
The snowstorm that started
Monday evening across the US northeast coast continued to ravage the
region Tuesday, with millions of people living in New York City, Boston,
Philadelphia and other metropolises in the area being affected.
The
snowstorm continued to smack eastern Long Island in the state of New
York, as well as states of Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts
Tuesday noon, Xinhua reported.
According to US National Weather
Service forecasters, the tough weather is expected to continue into
early Wednesday morning in Boston and Massachusetts, which has already
received about 50 cm of snowfall.
But meteorologists in the
country apologised Tuesday morning after the so-called "Storm of the
Century" proved to be less destructive than predicted.
Blizzard
warnings that called for up to about 91.44 cm, to fall in New York City
led officials to close schools, cancel flights and institute a statewide
travel ban. But the snowstorm did not pummel parts of New York, New
Jersey and Pennsylvania with the same punch that forecasters had
predicted.
In New York City, only about 15.24 cm of snow fell at
the famed Central Park by early Tuesday, far less than the record
snowfall of 68.33 cm in 2006.
Governors of New York, New Jersey
and Connecticut lifted travel bans they had imposed a day earlier and
New York City's subway system resumed service after being closed for 10
hours, but officials urged people to stay off snow-covered roadways.
In
Boston, the subways would remain closed for at least the rest of the
day since there is still heavy snow piled in some places of the city.
Police
reported that high tides breached a seawall in Marshfield,
Massachusetts, about 50 km south of Boston. The police have urged
residents of the area to evacuate before the next high tide, expected
later Tuesday.
Outside Boston, the heaviest snowfall of more than
70 cm has recorded in Auburn and Framingham, also in Massachusetts,
leaving a lot of homes and businesses without power.
In addition,
more than 4,700 scheduled flights in the country were cancelled
Tuesday, according to FlightAware.com, with more than 80 percent of the
cancelled flights occurring at airports in Greater New York City Area,
Philadelphia and Boston.