Snow, Strong Winds Batter Cape Cod, Coastal Massachusetts, Maine

March 26,2014

 

 

 

 

A spring storm brought high winds that whipped snow across portions of Massachusetts and eastern Maine on Wednesday, causing near-whiteout conditions on Cape Cod as it moved up the Atlantic coast.
The storm dumped up to 10 inches on Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard before pummeling eastern Maine with wind-whipped snow and gusts reaching 60 mph.
Violent winds stretched as far as Boston, fueling a 9-alarm fire that sent 18 people to the hospital Wednesday. According to the Associated Press, City Councilor Josh Zakim confirmed two firefighters were killed.
(MORE: Boston Firefighters Killed)
In West Virginia, the combination of wind and snow created whiteout conditions that were blamed on a pair of pileups involving 40 vehicles Wednesday on Interstate 81 around Falling Waters. Two people were killed and seven were injured, state police said.

Jim Lokay WCVB        ✔ @LokayWCVB

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214-year-old Chatham house collapses during the storm; building inspector says it's "100% weather related" #WCVB

12:06 PM - 26 Mar 2014 Chatham, MA, United States

(MORE: Northerners Say: Enough Already!)
As the storm moved north, it dropped about 6 inches of snow in southern Delaware's Sussex County and blanketed parts of southern New Jersey, where 6 1/2 inches of snow was reported in Cape May. Offshore, hurricane-force winds were reported, but the region's fishing fleet and commercial vessels already had scattered to safe harbors.
Nantucket officials told the Boston Globe that areas of town were flooding as tides rolled in. No injuries have been reported, Dave Fonzuto, the island's emergency management coordinator, told the newspaper.
While the wind gusts are expected to retreat in most of interior New England overnight, 40-50 mph gusts could stretch from Boston to Nantucket through Thursday morning.
(MORE: Real-Time Snow Totals and Forecast for This Storm)
Transportation officials around the mid-Atlantic warned motorists Wednesday to take care and watch for black ice.
Although spring began a week ago, it's not unusual to have storms so late in the year, weather service meteorologist Bill Simpson said. The Boston area got more than 2 inches of snow in an April storm last year and was blanketed with almost 2 feet the same month in 1997.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

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Scott Freeman, left, and Steve Clark clear snow from a doorway on Ocean Street during a snowstorm March 26, 2014 in Hyannis, Massachusetts. (Darren McCollester/Getty Images)