In Northeast, new menace forecast: Rain

Fear of roofs collapsing after heavy snow mounts

Kris Kachline clears the back deck of her snow-encrusted home in the Windmill Point neighborhood of Hull, Mass., on Sunday after more than 2 feet of snow blanketed the region from a storm that ended Saturday.
Kris Kachline clears the back deck of her snow-encrusted home in the Windmill Point neighborhood of Hull, Mass., on Sunday after more than 2 feet of snow blanketed the region from a storm that ended Saturday.

— Travel restrictions eased and life slowly returned to normal for most New Englanders after the weekend blizzard, but many remained without power in cold and darkened homes, and a forecast of rain brought a new worry: weight piling up dangerously on roofs already burdened by heavy snow.

The storm that slammed into the region with up to 3 feet of snow was blamed for at least 14 deaths in the Northeast and Canada and dumped some of the deepest accumulations ever recorded.

Still, coastal areas were largely spared catastrophic damage despite the lashing by the strong waves and hurricane-force winds at the height of the storm.

Hundreds of people, their homes without heat or electricity, were forced to take refuge in emergency shelters set up in schools or other places.

“For all the complaining everyone does, people really came through,” said Rich Dinsmore, 65, of Newport, R.I., who was staying at a Red Cross shelter set up in a middle school in Middletown after the power went out in his home on Friday.

Dinsmore, who has emphysema, first went by ambulance to a hospital after the medical equipment he relies on failed, and he had difficulty breathing.

“The police, the fire department, the state, the Red Cross, the volunteers, it really worked well,” said the retired radio broadcaster and Army veteran.

The National Weather Service said it had reports out of New Haven County, Conn., of 36.2 inches of snow in Oxford and 38 inches in Milford.

Commack, on Long Island, got 29.1 inches, and MacArthur Airport in Islip got 27.5 inches. In Boston, the official accumulation was 24.9 inches, the fifth-deepest in city history.

Utility crews, some from as far away as Georgia, Oklahoma and Quebec, raced to restore power to more than 300,000 customers - down from 650,000 in eight states at the height of the storm. In hardest-hit Massachusetts, where some 234,000 customers remained without power on Sunday, officials said electricity might not be restored until Tuesday.

Driving bans were lifted and flights resumed at major airports, though many flights were still canceled Sunday.

Amtrak resumed limited operations between New York and Boston, and has restarted some trains between Brunswick, Maine, and Boston. Most local rail service in New York’s Long Island was also running, while lines in much of Connecticut and Massachusetts remained suspended.

The Boston-area public transportation system, which shut down on Friday afternoon, partially resumed subway service and some bus routes on Sunday. Beverly Scott, general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, said full service is expected today - albeit with delays.

“Give yourself more time and expect that it is going to take us more time,” Scott advised riders.

Boston public schools were among many in the region that had already decided to cancel classes for today.

The city was appealing to the state and private contractors for more front-end loaders and other heavy equipment to clear snow piles that are clogging residential streets.

On eastern Long Island, which was slammed with as much as 30 inches of snow, hundreds of snowplows and other pieces of heavy equipment were sent in Sunday to clear ice- and drift-covered highways where hundreds of people abandoned cars during the height of the storm.

More than a third of all the state’s snow-removal equipment was sent to the area, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said, including more than 400 plow trucks and more than 100 snow blowers, loaders and backhoes.

The National Weather Service was forecasting rain and warmer temperatures in the region today - which will melt some snow but also add considerable weight to snow already piled on roofs, posing the danger of collapse. Of greatest concern were flat or gently-sloped roofs, and officials said people should try to clear them - but only if they could do so safely.

In Middlefield, Conn., two cows were killed when the roof of a barn gave way under the weight of heavy snow - one of two such incidents in the state that prompted agriculture officials to issue an advisory to farmers.

Officials also continued to warn of carbon-monoxide dangers in the wake of the storm.

In Boston, two people died Saturday after being overcome by carbon monoxide while sitting in running cars, including a boy who went into the family car to stay warm while his father shoveled snow. In a third episode, two children were hospitalized but expected to recover.

A Fire Department spokesman said that in each case, the tail pipes of the cars were clogged by snow.

Authorities also reminded homeowners to clear snow from heating vents to prevent carbon monoxide from seeping back into houses.

Several elderly people died of heart attacks while shoveling snow.

In Maine, the Penobscot County sheriff’s office said it recovered the body of a 75-year-old man who died after the pickup he was driving struck a tree and plunged into the Penobscot River during the storm. Investigators said Gerald Crommett apparently became disoriented while driving in the blinding snow.

Christopher Mahood, 23, of Germantown, N.Y., died when his tractor went off his driveway while he was plowing snow Friday night and rolled down a 15-foot embankment.

In eastern Long Island, hundreds of cars were stuck on roads, including the Long Island Expressway, a 27-mile stretch of which was closed Sunday for snow removal. Officials hoped to have most major highways cleared in time for this morning’s commute.

In Massachusetts, eight teams were formed to assess damage from flooding along the state’s coastline, with the hardest hit-areas including historic Plymouth and portions of Cape Cod.

“Considering the severity of the storm, the amount of snow and the wind, we’ve come through this pretty well,” Gov. Deval Patrick told CBS’ Face the Nation after meeting with local officials in Plymouth.

The U.S. Postal Service said that mail delivery that was suspended in the six New England states, as well as parts of New York and New Jersey, would resume Monday where it is safe to do so.

Utility companies reported steady progress in restoring power.

Rhode Island reported about 54,000 without power Sunday, down from 185,000. Connecticut still had about 15,000 without power, while in New York, just fewer than 2,400 power failures remained.

Information for this article was contributed by Nate Schweber, Jess Bidgood, Robert Davey,Ann Farmer, N.R. Kleinfield, Dina Kraft, Elizabeth Maker, Eli Rosenberg, Marc Santora, Michael Schwirtz, Katharine Q. Seelye, Ravi Somaiya, Alex Vadukul and Vivian Yee of The New York Times; by Michelle R. Smith, Jay Lindsay, David Klepper, Ebony Reed, Karen Matthews, Frank Eltman, Charles Krupa and John Christoffersen of The Associated Press; and by Annie Linskey, Jim Efstathiou, Dan Hart and Brian K. Sullivan of Bloomberg News.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 02/11/2013

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