Tens of Thousands Left Without Power After Intense Nor’Easter Brings Mayhem to US

As many 97,000 people in New England and an additional 21,470 in New York were without power as of Wednesday afternoon. California, which has been battling harrowing storms for weeks, had at least 160,000 people without power following an atmospheric river that soaked the state on Tuesday.

A powerful nor’easter whacked into the US Northeast on Tuesday, leaving nearly 100,000 people without power well into Wednesday evening.

The weather system left those in New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, and New York in the dark, and also bore down on California, which has been suffering severe storms for weeks, with additional flooding on Tuesday and Wednesday.

A dairy farm in Dracut, Massachusetts, has also experienced severe damage from the storm, with its barn having collapsed. Several of the farmer's cows were also killed.

The nor’easter dumped several feet of snow across the US Northeast on Tuesday, with some parts of the region receiving more than 2 feet of snow. Towns across New York and Vermont reported snowfall totals of 36 inches; and Beacon, New York, reported 43 inches of snow. Some counties in Maine received as much as 10 to 15 inches of snow, whereas Peterborough, New Hampshire, reporting as much as 35 inches of snow.

So we got a little bit of snow overnight. 😳 #vtwx #LondonderryVT #Vermont #Noreaster pic.twitter.com/OseRBMDHN1

— Jen in VT (ू•ᴗ•ू❁) (@jen_vt) March 14, 2023

The northwestern part of Massachusetts reported about 3 feet of snow, while Boston’s suburbs reported just about an inch. Airports in Boston and New York City canceled many of their flights, and as many as 2,100 flights were canceled on Tuesday during the storm.

Wind gusts continued to hammer the Northeast on Wednesday, with Maine receiving wind speeds up to 40 miles per hour, and Concord, New Hampshire, experiencing wind speeds of 43 miles per hour.

By Wednesday evening, more than 47,000 people in New Hampshire remained without power, while 28,000 more in Maine found themselves in the dark. More than 21,000 and 22,000 people in New York and Vermont were also without power, respectively, according to PowerOutage.us.

So far, the #NewEngland #Noreaster has been mostly rain on the south shore of #Massachusetts.

While other parts of New England are getting lots of snow, my sympathies are for my sister in #Tahoe. Here’s the current view from her living room. pic.twitter.com/vC5pmWjahA

— Karen Elizabeth Carpenter (@KECwriter) March 14, 2023

Another atmospheric river loomed into California on Tuesday, which is already saturated after weeks of heavy storms, and brings with it the threat of strong winds, heavy rain, flash floods, avalanches and mudslides. The storm will also bring more heavy snow to the north region of the state, where 13 bodies were found last week as a result of previous snowstorms in the region.

The new storm is expected to “eclipse and exceed the previous one, with potentially large-scale and long-lasting flooding impacts,” forecasters wrote on Monday.

The Bay Area is also expected to receive gale-force winds between 55 and 70 miles per hour or more. Gusts of over 100 miles per hour could occur in the Sierra Nevada. Some highways and schools closed across the state on Tuesday, and officials in Santa Barbara County issued evacuation orders.