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Summary Snowstorm knocked out power to more than 3.2 million homes across the US.
A freak October snowstorm knocked out power Sunday to more than 3.2 million homes and businesses across the US Northeast, with close to two feet (60 centimetres) of snow falling in some areas over the weekend.The storm was even more damaging because leaves still on the trees caught more of the particularly wet and heavy snow, overloading branches that snapped and wreaked havoc.You just have absolute tree carnage with this heavy snow just straining the branches, said National Weather Service spokesman Chris Vaccaro.From Maryland to Maine, officials said it would take days to restore electricity, even though the snow ended Sunday.The storm smashed record snowfall totals for October and worsened as it moved north. Communities in western Massachusetts were among the hardest hit. Snowfall totals topped 27 inches (68.6 centimetres) in Plainfield, and nearby Windsor had gotten 26 inches (66 centimetres) by early Sunday.The storm was blamed for at least six deaths, and states of emergency were declared in New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and parts of New York.Roads, rails and airline flights were knocked out, and passengers on a JetBlue flight were stuck on a plane in Hartford, Connecticut, for more than seven hours on Saturday.More than 800,000 power customers were without electricity in Connecticut alone shattering the record set in August by Hurricane Irene. Massachusetts had more than 600,000 outages, and so did New Jersey including Gov. Chris Christies house. Parts of Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, New York, Maine, Maryland and Vermont also were without power.
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