Post by DannyRock on Nov 14, 2003 21:34:01 GMT -5
The weather here in Stamford for the last 24 hours has been really strange inded with almost non-stop 50 to 70 mph wind gusts knocking trees down across powerlines and and other things and causing a significant amount of damage. Being a volunteer firefighter, I was out out the middle of it investigating reports of downed trees and powerlines from 10:00 AM on Thursday until 3:00 AM this morning. Luckily things are starting to quiet down but several people are still without power.
Hundreds of thousands without power in East, Midwest after storms
By CHERIE HENDERSON, Associated Press
(November 14, 6:41 a.m. AST) - Utility companies worked to restore power to hundreds of thousands of customers Friday after heavy wind and rain hit the East and Midwest, but lingering gusts continued to knock out service.At least five people have died in the storms since Wednesday, including three motorists hit by falling trees.
More than 1.4 million customers lost power, and early Friday, lights were still out for more than 490,000, including at least 230,000 in Pennsylvania.
"No sooner do get some customers back in service then we get another set to replace them," Janice Lantz, a spokeswoman for Allegheny Power in West Virginia, said late Thursday.
The winds that had gusted to more than 70 mph Thursday died down somewhat, and most utilities expected to return to full power by Saturday. But gusts as high as 50 mph remained in the forecast for Friday.
Throughout the vast region, downed trees and power lines littered roads and yards. Schools were closed Friday in a few spots.
The wind snapped the mast off a 42-foot sailboat off Block Island, R.I., forcing the Coast Guard to rescue the five people aboard. In Oswego, N.Y., a 165-foot cell-phone tower outside a fire station fell onto the chief's sport utility vehicle.
"It sounded like an aluminum door slamming shut," Fire Chief Edward Geers told The Post-Standard of Syracuse. "We're lucky it fell where it did."
Lingering winds drove a fire through a brick warehouse in Chicago, spreading it two other industrial buildings and a house before it was put out after almost five hours Friday.
"It's probably the most difficult fire we've fought in quite a while," Fire Department spokesman Patrick Howe said.
Two days of punishing storms in Ohio gave way to calmer weather Friday as cleanup continued from a tornado that Wooster resident Charles Massaro said "sounded like 20 freight trains in surround sound."
Damage in Wooster was estimated to exceed $15.5 million. The tornado had winds of 110 to 130 mph and was on the ground for about 12 miles, said National Weather Service meteorologist Mark Adams.
Two men were killed in Pennsylvania and a woman died in New York when trees fell on their vehicles.
A motorist who drove past a roadblock was swept away by a creek in West Virginia, and a pregnant woman died in New York when her car slid into a pickup truck.
Besides the outages in Pennsylvania, power remained out early Friday for 44,000 in Michigan, 6,000 in West Virginia, 66,000 customers in New York, 7,000 in Vermont, 40,000 in Maine, 5,000 in Massachusetts, 8,000 in Connecticut, 36,000 in New Jersey and 52,000 in Maryland and Delaware.
"It's been one of those two-steps-back-for-every-step-forward kinds of things," said Steve Costello, a spokesman for Central Vermont Public Service Corp.
Snow complicated the repair work in some northern spots. More than a foot and a half fell on higher peaks in Vermont's Green Mountains, its first major snowfall of the season.
"It was really hard for our crews to get out and do the work because the plows weren't out," said Dorothy Schnure, spokeswoman for Green Mountain Power Corp.
www.adn.com/24hour/nation/story/1051461p-7396046c.html
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Hundreds of thousands without power in East, Midwest after storms
By CHERIE HENDERSON, Associated Press
(November 14, 6:41 a.m. AST) - Utility companies worked to restore power to hundreds of thousands of customers Friday after heavy wind and rain hit the East and Midwest, but lingering gusts continued to knock out service.At least five people have died in the storms since Wednesday, including three motorists hit by falling trees.
More than 1.4 million customers lost power, and early Friday, lights were still out for more than 490,000, including at least 230,000 in Pennsylvania.
"No sooner do get some customers back in service then we get another set to replace them," Janice Lantz, a spokeswoman for Allegheny Power in West Virginia, said late Thursday.
The winds that had gusted to more than 70 mph Thursday died down somewhat, and most utilities expected to return to full power by Saturday. But gusts as high as 50 mph remained in the forecast for Friday.
Throughout the vast region, downed trees and power lines littered roads and yards. Schools were closed Friday in a few spots.
The wind snapped the mast off a 42-foot sailboat off Block Island, R.I., forcing the Coast Guard to rescue the five people aboard. In Oswego, N.Y., a 165-foot cell-phone tower outside a fire station fell onto the chief's sport utility vehicle.
"It sounded like an aluminum door slamming shut," Fire Chief Edward Geers told The Post-Standard of Syracuse. "We're lucky it fell where it did."
Lingering winds drove a fire through a brick warehouse in Chicago, spreading it two other industrial buildings and a house before it was put out after almost five hours Friday.
"It's probably the most difficult fire we've fought in quite a while," Fire Department spokesman Patrick Howe said.
Two days of punishing storms in Ohio gave way to calmer weather Friday as cleanup continued from a tornado that Wooster resident Charles Massaro said "sounded like 20 freight trains in surround sound."
Damage in Wooster was estimated to exceed $15.5 million. The tornado had winds of 110 to 130 mph and was on the ground for about 12 miles, said National Weather Service meteorologist Mark Adams.
Two men were killed in Pennsylvania and a woman died in New York when trees fell on their vehicles.
A motorist who drove past a roadblock was swept away by a creek in West Virginia, and a pregnant woman died in New York when her car slid into a pickup truck.
Besides the outages in Pennsylvania, power remained out early Friday for 44,000 in Michigan, 6,000 in West Virginia, 66,000 customers in New York, 7,000 in Vermont, 40,000 in Maine, 5,000 in Massachusetts, 8,000 in Connecticut, 36,000 in New Jersey and 52,000 in Maryland and Delaware.
"It's been one of those two-steps-back-for-every-step-forward kinds of things," said Steve Costello, a spokesman for Central Vermont Public Service Corp.
Snow complicated the repair work in some northern spots. More than a foot and a half fell on higher peaks in Vermont's Green Mountains, its first major snowfall of the season.
"It was really hard for our crews to get out and do the work because the plows weren't out," said Dorothy Schnure, spokeswoman for Green Mountain Power Corp.
www.adn.com/24hour/nation/story/1051461p-7396046c.html