About 1 million people remained without power in the Northeast on Wednesday after an uncommonly robust and deadly fall snowstorm last weekend pounded a half-dozen states and sparked widespread outages. As the snow was steadily melting across the region, utility crews struggled to restore electricity to many towns because of complications from fallen trees that tangled lines. The bad weather has been blamed for at least 15 fatalities, mostly due to slippery roads but also from unvented toxic fumes in homes where people were running alternative power sources, such as gas generators and propane stoves. Officials across New England pleaded with residents to exercise extreme caution when using such devices, as two more deaths were blamed on carbon monoxide poisoning on Tuesday in Massachusetts. A 57-year old man, a 22-year-old woman, and two dogs perished from toxic fumes in a home in Palmer, Massachusetts in an incident officials said was related to the storm. The source was a propane canister with a heating attachment that was running in the home for many hours.
About 1 million people remained without power in the Northeast on Wednesday after an uncommonly robust and deadly fall snowstorm last weekend pounded a half-dozen states and sparked widespread outages.
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As the snow was steadily melting across the region, utility crews struggled to restore electricity to many towns because of complications from fallen trees that tangled lines.
The bad weather has been blamed for at least 15 fatalities, mostly due to slippery roads but also from unvented toxic fumes in homes where people were running alternative power sources, such as gas generators and propane stoves.
Officials across New England pleaded with residents to exercise extreme caution when using such devices, as two more deaths were blamed on carbon monoxide poisoning on Tuesday in Massachusetts.
A 57-year old man, a 22-year-old woman, and two dogs perished from toxic fumes in a home in Palmer, Massachusetts in an incident officials said was related to the storm. The source was a propane canister with a heating attachment that was running in the home for many hours.
"Heaters like this need a tremendous amount of ventilation to be able to be used -- and quite frankly, they shouldn't be used indoors," said Massachusetts Fire Marshall Stephen Coan.
Western and central Massachusetts suffered a "tremendous amount of damage" and 215,173 customers are still in the dark, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said on Wednesday.
In the immediate aftermath of the weekend storm, some 700,000 customers had lost power in the state.
Although utility crews were working through the night, "people are losing their patience and so am I, frankly," Patrick said. "The utilities are just going to have to step it up."
In Gill, Massachusetts, Colleen Sculley said she has been without power since Saturday. She and her husband are using a wood stove to keep the house warm for their two toddlers.
"It's only bad at nighttime when it's dark," she said, adding that the toddlers stay close by. "They don't want to play far away even when we have candlelight out for them."
In Connecticut, where more than 550,000 customers remained affected, customers in many towns likely would not see power return until Sunday, Connecticut Light & Power said.
Photo shows an electric company worker uses a blow torch to repair power lines in Larchmont, New York October 30, 2011. Credit: REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi
Article continues: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/02/us-weather-northeast-idUSTRE79S1VP20111102
