Snow, Icy Conditions Keep East Locked in Deep Freeze

Snow and freezing rain Friday put a hard-shell finish on the East, causing deadly highway accidents, backing up airline flights, knocking out power and giving federal government workers the option to take the day off.

“Snow, sleet, hail, ice, rain, floods,” James Ellis of New Rochelle, N.Y., said, trying to remember all the weather he had seen in 48 hours. “Slush, frozen slush, snowmelt. Lots of branches down. Ice, did I say ice?”

The snow that blanketed the Northeast on Thursday was topped by freezing rain Friday, creating a slick coating over much of the region during the morning rush hour. As the day wore on and temperatures climbed out of the teens, people found themselves slogging through slush and high water.

At least 10 people have died since Wednesday in traffic accidents in West Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts and Maine that were blamed on rain, snow and ice. Earlier this month, at least 89 deaths were blamed on a major storm that hammered the Midwest.

Ice forced the closing of a 20-mile stretch of Interstate 87 north of Albany, N.Y. Slick roads also caused two pileups on interstate ramps near Parsippany, N.J. Numerous fender-benders were also reported.

In New York, commuter trains were delayed and traffic slowed to a crawl. Subway travel was hampered in New York, Boston and Washington.

Flood warnings were issued for New York City and surrounding areas, where the combination of heavy rain and melting ice and snow left streets, highways and railroad tracks under water.

The three major airports serving the city canceled many early flights and worked to resume normal operation as the temperature rose. Boston’s airport had to close temporarily to de-ice runways after snow changed to freezing rain.

The storm glazed trees with ice, breaking off limbs and knocking out power from New York to Virginia. About 349,000 customers lost power in Maryland and the nation’s capital at the height of the storm; 280,000 were still without power Friday evening.

Utilities serving Washington, Maryland and Virginia called in hundreds of extra workers, and some relief crews from as far away as New Jersey, to restore power to homes and businesses darkened after ice snapped trees and power lines and disabled electric substations.

The federal government declared an “unscheduled leave day” Friday, allowing employees to stay home and charge the day against their normal vacation allotment if they felt weather conditions threatened their safety.

Bruce Milhans, Office of Personnel Management spokesman, stressed that the federal government was “fully open” Friday.

“It costs $74 million a day to shut the government down in Washington. It is hardly ever done,” Milhans said.

More than 100,000 customers lost service in Virginia, and there were smaller outages in New Jersey, New York and around Philadelphia.

In Michigan, Gov. John Engler declared a state of emergency for Detroit, allowing the state to request financial assistance to help the beleaguered city clear its snowbound streets.

Detroit has a long-standing policy of not plowing its residential streets, and Mayor Dennis Archer has urged citizens to volunteer their time to shovel out schools, sidewalks and streets.

In Pontiac, Mich., a group of high school students apparently angry over having to wait in freezing weather attacked their bus driver when she arrived nearly 40 minutes late, and they attacked a driver who came to her aid, police said.

The female driver is off duty with minor injuries, while the male driver who tried to help was not seriously hurt in the incident.

Three students--a 17-year-old girl, her 16-year-old brother and a 15-year-old girl--were suspended Friday.