UPDATE: Man dies after car makes contact with live wire

(GIM)
Published: Mar. 8, 2018 at 8:10 AM CST
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2 p.m.

Authorities say a man died in New Jersey after he drove his car around some traffic cones meant to warn motorists to stay away from a downed live wire.

Police in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, say it appears the vehicle hit the wire, which sparked a fire that engulfed the car at about 9 a.m. Thursday.

The victim's name was not immediately made public.

The area received about 2 feet of snow during this week's storm.

A police spokesman says the department doesn't have the personnel to post an officer at every hazard, and in the case of a downed wire it blocks off the area and alerts the power company.

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1:10 p.m.

Electric utility Eversource says it could be several days before it can restore power to every home and business it serves that lost it during the latest winter storm to hit the Northeast.

Eversource has more than 3.5 million electric and natural gas customers in Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire.

The company said on Twitter on Thursday: "Please plan to be without power for multiple days as we work through this significant restoration."

Eversource spokesman Mike Durand told WBZ-AM its challenges include fallen trees, poles and other debris, and in some cases rebuilding entire systems.

National Grid, which serves Massachusetts and Rhode Island, also is preparing customers for long waits to get their power back. The utility says it has more than 300 crews from 16 states and Canada working on the problem.

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12:30 p.m.

Police say an 88-year-old woman has been killed by a tree that fell and crushed her as she shoveled snow in the New York City suburbs.

Suffern Police Chief Clarke Osborn tells the Journal News that Barbara Suleski was injured around 5 p.m. Wednesday and died at a hospital.

Neighbors were trying to help her when police arrived. Live wires wrapped around the tree made the rescue more difficult.

Another large branch broke off a tree and fell near emergency workers along with wires.

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12:15 p.m.

A nor'easter that's sweeping across the Northeast has dumped as much as 19 inches of snow and caused more than 20,000 power outages in Maine.

The National Weather Service reports that several York County communities were getting pummeled with wet, heavy snow. Meteorologist Tom Hawley said that as of 10 a.m. there were reports of 19 inches in Sanford, 16 inches in Saco and 14 inches in Berwick.

Central Maine Power, meanwhile, reported that the bulk of its power outages were in York County.

Together, CMP and Emera Maine reported more than 20,000 homes and businesses were in the dark.

Maine Gov. Paul LePage ordered state offices closed, and hundreds of schools and businesses were closed. Many morning flights were canceled at the airports in Portland and Bangor.

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11:40 a.m.

The late-season snowstorm that is dumping up to 3 feet of fluffy snow in the mountains of southern Vermont is being welcomed by skiers who are taking advantage of conditions more common in Colorado than at Eastern resorts.

By 9 a.m. Thursday, the Mount Snow ski area in Dover had received 31 inches of fluffy snow, and more is expected before the storm winds down later in the day.

Mount Snow Communications Manager Jamie Storrs says the heavy, wet snow last week provided a solid base and this storm should set the resort up for solid skiing through the middle of April.

Mark Broderick, from Rockville Center, New York, says it's the biggest one-day snowfall he's seen in the 21 years he's skied at Mount Snow.

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11:10 a.m.

A tree limb weighed down by snow that snapped off and became wedged in a switch is the likely cause of a commuter train derailment in Massachusetts.

There were about 100 passengers on board but no one was hurt when the Boston-bound train derailed in Wilmington at about 6:30 a.m. Thursday.

A spokesman for Keolis Commuter Services, which runs the system for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, called it a "low-speed derailment."

Tory Mazzola says it appears the train struck a tree branch that had come down during the storm, dragged it several hundred feet until it snapped and became wedged in the switch.

The National Weather Service reports that Wilmington got more than 10 inches of snow.

The derailment remains under investigation.

The MBTA reported multiple storm-related delays.

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10:05 a.m.

Ice-covered roadways and blowing snow have led to numerous accidents and some fatalities on interstates in southwest Ohio.

The state Highway Patrol says two people were killed in a chain reaction crash Thursday morning that shut down northbound Interstate 75 in Butler County's West Chester Township, about 23 miles (37 kilometers) north of Cincinnati.

Accidents caused lane closures in the southbound lanes of the interstate, too.

Roads are being described Thursday morning as sheets of ice.

The Dayton Daily News reports there are closures of roads, freeway ramps and interstates throughout the region. The Highway Patrol says a passenger in a semi-trailer that collided with another semi early Thursday during whiteout conditions on I-75 has died. That accident occurred near Tipp City, 15 miles (24 kilometers) north of Dayton

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9:25 a.m.

Authorities say a commuter train with more than 100 passengers derailed in Massachusetts during the latest winter storm to hit the region. No injuries have been reported.

A spokesman for Keolis Commuter Services, which runs the system for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, says the train headed to Boston derailed in Wilmington at about 6:30 a.m. Thursday.

The "very low-speed" derailment is under investigation to determine if it was weather-related.

The National Weather Service reports that Wilmington got more than 10 inches of snow.

The spokesman says crews had to clear about 30 fallen tree limbs from tracks as a result of the storm, and seven trains were damaged and repaired.

There are multiple storm-related delays on the MBTA's commuter rail, light rail and bus lines.

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8:55 a.m.

Nearly 75,000 power outages in New York's Lower Hudson Valley are being reported by various utilities. There also are thousands of outages in upstate New York.

Con Edison has about 6,500 customers who are still without power from last Friday's nor'easter. They're now expected to get their power back by 11 p.m. this Friday.

Snow totals vary wildly in the metropolitan New York City area. Some suburbs saw 2 feet of snow or more.

National Weather Service meteorologist Adrienne Leptich says the "big winner" is New Fairfield, Connecticut, with a whopping 26.8 inches.

New York City's biggest total was 4.7 inches, recorded in Little Neck, Queens.

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7:50 a.m.

Pennsylvania utility companies say more than 110,000 customers are without power following the state's second major snowstorm in less than a week.

More than a foot of snow fell in parts of Pennsylvania Wednesday, causing treacherous travel in some areas. Many schools and businesses remained closed Thursday or were holding delayed openings.

The most outages are reported by Peco, which said about 55,500 customers were without service Thursday morning. About 47,000 of those customers are in the Philadelphia suburb of Bucks County.

Utility crews were also still dealing with tens of thousands of outages remaining from a weekend storm that raked the state last Friday, when high winds downed transmission lines from Erie to Philadelphia.

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7:30 a.m.

The Northeast is digging out from its second powerful nor'easter in less than a week that left behind some areas with more than 2 feet of snow, hundreds of thousands without power, school closures and travel chaos

Some places saw more than 2 feet of snow by late Wednesday and many communities woke up Thursday to a foot or more of snow-covered cars.

The late-winter storm left more than 800,000 customers without power in the Northeast — counting some who have been without electricity since last Friday's destructive nor'easter.

Montville, New Jersey, got more than 26 inches from Wednesday's nor'easter. North Adams, Massachusetts, registered 24 inches, and Sloatsburg, New York, got 26 inches.

Major cities along the Interstate 95 corridor saw much less. Philadelphia International Airport recorded about 6 inches, while New York City's Central Park saw less than 3 inches.

The storm made traveling treacherous. Thousands of flights across the region were canceled.

It was not much better on the ground. Members of the Northeastern University women's basketball team pushed their bus back on course after it was stuck in the snow outside a practice facility in Philadelphia. The Huskies were in the city to compete in the 2018 CAA Women's Basketball Tournament. The team posted a video of the feat on its Twitter account.

Amtrak suspended service between New York City and Boston until at least 10 a.m. Thursday. New York City's Metro-North commuter railroad suspended service on lines connecting the city to its northern suburbs and Connecticut because of downed trees. It was not immediately known when service would be restored.

There were multiple storm-related delays on Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's commuter rail, light rail and bus lines, and authorities were investigating after a train with more than 100 passengers on board derailed in Wilmington, Massachusetts. The low-speed derailment was under investigation to determine if it was weather related.

In New Hampshire, Interstate 95 in Portsmouth was closed in both directions because of downed power lines.

"It's kind of awful," said New York University student Alessa Raiford, who put two layers of clothing on a pug named Jengo before taking him for a walk in slushy, sloppy Manhattan, where rain gave way to wet snow in the afternoon. "I'd rather that it be full-on snowing than rain and slush. It just makes it difficult."

The storm was not as severe as the nor'easter that toppled trees, flooded coastal communities and caused more than 2 million power outages from Virginia to Maine last Friday.

It still proved to be a headache for the tens of thousands of customers still in the dark from the earlier storm — and for the crews trying to restore power to them.

Massachusetts was hardest hit by outages, with more than 300,000 without service early Thursday and Republican Gov. Charlie Baker closing all non-essential state offices. Republican Maine Gov. Paul LePage also closed state offices and encouraged residents to stay off roads "unless it is an absolute emergency."

In New Jersey, the state's major utilities reported more than 247,000 customers without power a day after the storm.

In North White Plains, New York, 10 people were taken to hospitals with symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning after running a generator inside a home, police said. All were expected to survive.

In Manchester Township, New Jersey, police said a teacher was struck by lightning while holding an umbrella on bus duty outside a school. The woman felt a tingling sensation but didn't lose consciousness. She was taken to a hospital with minor injuries.

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Porter reported from Newark, New Jersey. Associated Press writers Michael Catalini in Morrisville, Pennsylvania; Michael Sisak and Rod Hicks in Philadelphia; Wayne Parry in Atlantic City, New Jersey; Bruce Shipkowski in Toms River, New Jersey, Mark Pratt in Boston, and Rodrique Ngowi in Worcester, Massachusetts, contributed.

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