Blizzard slams Boston area, spares New York despite predictions

BOSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - A powerful blizzard struck Boston and surrounding New England on Tuesday, leaving some 4.5 million people grappling with as much as three feet of snow and coastal flooding, but sparing New York City residents who had braced for a significant blast.

Snow was forecast to keep falling into early Wednesday in eastern New England, possibly setting a record snowfall in Boston. At Logan International Airport, 20.8 inches (53 cm) of snow was on the ground late afternoon, swept higher in parts by strong winds. Boston-area subways were closed.

"There are drifts now of four, five and six feet in some places," Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker said. "This is clearly a very big storm for most of Massachusetts."

The resort island of Nantucket was particularly hard-hit by power outages, and most homes and businesses had no electricity, the governor said.

Icy flooding closed the island's downtown waterfront, white-out conditions forced some roads to close and ferry and plane service was canceled, according to local reports.

Storm-driven coastal flooding added to the state's woes, as low-lying towns south of Boston grappled with rising water.

High tides breached a seawall in Marshfield, about 30 miles (50 km) south of Boston, damaging 11 homes, several of which were condemned, police said. Police urged residents to evacuate.

Denise Gorham, 57, said she watched a heavy wooden shed filled with window air conditioners float away on waters that surrounded the house after the breach.

"It's been horrible. I've been here 12 years and we've weathered every single storm. It was just like the ocean was on the street itself," said Gorham, a writer, who was trying to keep warm over her fireplace after the power went out.

ESCAPING THE BRUNT OF STORM

Further south, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut escaped the worst of the storm, despite dire predictions by meteorologists and officials.

Travel bans in those states were lifted, and New York City's subway system was restarted after being closed for 10 hours.

?It wasn't nearly as bad as predicted, but with the wind and snow hitting your face it's still no picnic,? said Mike Spigarolo, 56, of Milford, Connecticut as he cleared his property with a snowblower.

The heaviest snowfall was recorded outside Boston, with 33.1 inches (84 cm) in Lunenburg, Massachusetts, and 32.5 inches (83 cm) reported in Auburn, according to the National Weather Service.

Some 45,900 customers across the storm-hit region were without power, according to local utilities, with the bulk of the outages on Massachusetts' Cape Cod and outlying islands.

Police said a teenager died late on Monday when he crashed into a lamppost as he was snow-tubing in the New York City suburb of Suffolk County, on the east end of Long Island, which saw more than two feet of snow in places.

New Yorkers were divided on whether Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio had over-reacted ahead of the storm. Cuomo had ordered a total travel ban on all roads in the southern part of the state and oversaw the closing of the subway system, the first time in history due to snow.

Chris Jones, a clerk at Whole Foods in Manhattan, said he watched in amazement as customers stocked up on hundreds of dollars worth of food after the mayor warned of major snow accumulation.

"He overly exaggerated," the 22-year-old Jones said. "Everyone said it would be dozens of inches of snow and as you can see, there's nothing like that. All of that craze for nothing."

  Others were more forgiving.

"They went by what they knew. It?s better to be safe than to underestimate it and people get stuck or hurt,? said Brent Bounds, 46, a New York City psychologist sledding with his two young sons.

Cuomo defended the decisions, saying he favored "a lean toward safety."

"I have seen the consequences the other way," he said. "I would rather be in a situation where we say 'We got lucky.'"

A blizzard warning remained in effect for much of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and parts of Maine.

Boston's record snowfall of 27.5 inches (69.85 cm) was set in February 2003.

"Heavy snow and strong winds will result in white-out and blizzard conditions at times through the evening," the National Weather Service said on its website. "Travel will be impossible and life-threatening across the entire region."

More than 4,700 U.S. flights were canceled on Tuesday, according to FlightAware.com, with more than 80 percent of scheduled flights at airports in New York, Philadelphia and Boston affected.

The New York Stock Exchange, owned by Intercontinental Exchange Inc, opened as usual. Nasdaq OMX Group and BATS Global Markets had normal operating hours on Tuesday.

(Additional reporting by Jeff Benkoe, James Dalgleish, Scott DiSavino, Sebastien Malo and Tiffany Wu in New York, Daniel Kelley in Philadelphia, Elizabeth Barber in Somerville, Massachusetts, Barbara Goldberg in Maplewood, New Jersey, Svea Herbst-Bayliss in Providence Rhode Island, Richard Weizel in Connecticut, Curtis Skinner in San Francisco and Doina Chiacu in Washington; Editing by Howard Goller and Bernard Orr)