Snowstorm: Northeast Cleans Up After Deadly Nor'easter

Storm dumped record amounts of snow.

ByABC News
October 29, 2011, 4:58 PM

Oct. 30, 2011— -- Northeast residents are cleaning up today after a rare, strong storm blanketed the region with snow and rain, left more than 3 million without power and killed at least 11 people.

The October Nor'easter dumped record amounts of snow from New Jersey through New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts. The governors of New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts all declared states of emergency.

Meteorologist Bruce Sullivan from the National Weather Service said the weather system will be moving up the coast today.

"It is expected to accelerate northeast fairly rapidly today towards Nova Scotia and Canada," he said.

Sullivan said the last part of the storm will be hitting the East Coast with heavy snowfall and wind gusts of up to 55 miles per hour predicted.

"We still have to deal with a little bit of snow on the back side of this system this morning. Most of the effects will be felt in parts of eastern Maine," Sullivan said. "But the storm has actually created quite a bit of snow from Virginia, all the way up into the Northeast, with some snow totals as high as two feet across western Massachusetts."

New York City received a little over an inch of snow, but enough to make this snowfall the heaviest ever recorded in the city -- making it only the fourth time since the Civil War the city has recorded measurable snow in October.

Power Outages

Officials are working to restore power to more than 3 million homes and businesses in the Northeast.

With more than 750,000 customers in his state lacking power following the snowstorm, Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy said the state has never seen anything like it.

"This is the largest number of power outages that we have ever experienced," he said.

Malloy said residents need to brace for extensive power outages following the brutal snowstorm.

"Some people could be without power for as much as a week," he said.

Connecticut Light and Power officials reported about 804,790 customers are without power of this afternoon.

New York governor Andrew Cuomo surveyed the damage in the New York City suburb Valhalla, and spoke with reporters about efforts to get power back to more than 400,000 customers.

"We have several hundred crews out now trying to get the lines repaired and trying to get the trees cleared. And that will continue through today and into tomorrow," Cuomo said.

A state of emergency was declared in New Jersey, where Gov. Chris Christie said the heavy snow left approximately 600,000 homes and businesses without power.

"We expect the number is going to continue to go up before it goes back down," Christie said Saturday. "The problem is that there are trees just down everywhere because of the snow, the wet, heavy snow."

There were more than 430,000 customers without power in Massachusetts, about 400,819 in New Hampshire, 260,000 in Pennsylvania and 130,000 in Maine.

Storm Blamed for Deaths

Among the deaths blamed on the storm was an 84-year-old man in Pennsylvania who died Saturday afternoon when a tree weighed down by snow fell on his home.

Pennsylvania State Police Corporal Douglas Benedetti said 84-year-old Charles Loder was napping on his recliner when the tree smashed through his house, killing him instantly.

"One of his daughters heard a tree fall in the back of the residence, that's where he resides, and she discovered him trapped in there," Benedetti said.

In Colchester, Conn., one person died in a traffic accident blamed on the snow, Gov. Dannel Malloy said.

A 20-year-old man in Springfield, Mass., was electrocuted by a downed power line he stepped on after getting out of his car.

ABC News' Max Golembo, ABC News Radio and The Associated Press contributed to this report.