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Winter Storm Grayson Pulls Out of Northeast, Leaving 11 Dead

By Sean Breslin

January 06, 2018

At a Glance

  • Winter Storm Grayson's death toll has risen to 11 in the South and Northeast.
  • Hundreds more flights were canceled Friday at major Northeast hubs impacted by the storm.
  • Residents rushed to clear snow ahead of an intense cold blast.
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Winter Storm Grayson has pulled out of the Northeast, but the bitter cold and effects of the massive storm lingered into the weekend. 

Grayson was responsible for at least 11 deaths, most of which were in car crashes on snowy or icy roads. Officials confirmed four deaths in North Carolina, two in Virginia, and one in South Carolina, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania as the storm swept through more than a dozen states.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said flooding from the "historic high tide" prompted the deployment of National Guard high-water rescue vehicles to aid residents and stranded vehicles, the Associated Press reported. The National Weather Service later confirmed that a tide record was set in Boston, breaking the old record set during the Blizzard of 1978.

(MORE: Recapping Winter Storm Grayson, a Monster Storm)

 

As tides rose in the afternoon hours, coastal areas saw flooding in addition to the wintry precipitation from the storm.

Storm surge poured into the streets in towns like Scituate, Massachusetts, flooding the roads with partially frozen salt water. In the town of Rockport, The Weather Channel storm tracker Jim Cantore watched as water levels rose quickly Thursday afternoon and threatened to wash away several parked cars that were left behind.

In Suffolk County, Massachusetts, the emergency management director reported 75 homes had flooding on their first floors and utilities were compromised, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

A "catastrophic" sewer main break prompted authorities to release more than 1 million gallons of untreated sewage into Nantucket Harbor Friday, AP reports. 

Nantucket Health Department director Roberto Santamaria told WBZ-AM they were forced to release the sewage because it would have backed up into homes otherwise, creating a major health crisis.

In Arlington, a Massachusetts Water Resources Authority employee was found in a snowbank after going into cardiac arrest while cleaning up after the storm.

North of Plymouth, Massachusetts, fire crews in the town of Duxbury responded to water rescues in flooded areas, and a house fire was reported, the town's fire department said in a tweet Thursday afternoon.

(PHOTOS: Winter Storm Grayson, in Pictures)

Icy water poured into downtown Boston streets Thursday.

"We saw the water going over the sea wall, which was really scary," resident Sonia Calderon told the Associated Press. "I don't know what kind of damage that's going to cause, but it's a little scary just to think about it."

The flooding stretched down into Boston's Seaport and all the way up to the Maine coast. Scenes similar to the Massachusetts coast were seen in Kennebunkport, Maine, where roads were under water and chunks of ice flowed from the ocean onto the shore.

In New Jersey, portions of the Garden State Parkway and Atlantic City Expressway were closed near Atlantic City late Thursday morning because of the conditions.

In Perth Amboy, NJ, a teenager was killed and 35 people at an apartment building suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning, according to AP.

In Suffolk County in New York, a man died from cardiac arrest while shoveling snow, AP reports.

On the Long Island's remote Oak Island, three unoccupied summer homes were destroyed by a fire during the snowstorm, the AP also reported. The homes began to burn and conditions prevented crews from fighting the fire, NBC New York reported.The blaze eventually burned itself out and there were no injuries, the AP also said. The secluded island is home to about 50 beach houses, the report added.

Deep South Rebounds from Rare Heavy Snowfall

Two days after Grayson dumped more snow than some areas of the Deep South had seen in decades, roads thawed and travel resumed in parts of the region. But on side streets, conditions were still poor Friday morning.

Schools were closed again Friday in parts of the central and eastern Carolinas, according to the AP.

Grayson brought rare snow to north Florida – the first measurable snow since 1989 in Tallahassee – and coastal Georgia Wednesday before raking the coast of North Carolina and Virginia overnight. As the storm rapidly intensified, wind gusts higher than 70 mph hit the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

(MORE: Frigid Weather Triggers Water Main Breaks Across the South)

On Wednesday ice and snow contributed to nearly 100,000 homes and businesses losing power in north Florida and south Georgia combined, according to PowerOutage.us. As of Thursday morning, more than 35,000 homes and businesses were without power from Florida to Virginia; most of the remaining outages were in Florida and Georgia.

Grayson's conditions forced authorities to close a stretch of Interstate 10 from Tallahassee to Live Oak in Florida starting Wednesday morning. The closure affected a stretch of the highway 80 miles long.

Along I-95 near Savannah, multiple crashes were reported during the storm and portions of the road were closed. In North Carolina, approximately 60 to 70 vehicles were stopped for several hours on U.S. Highway 1 Wednesday night in Southern Pines and Aberdeen, WRAL-TV reported.

Air travel was also impacted. Dozens of flights were canceled, and two airports – Charleston and Savannah/Hilton Head – shut down all runways Wednesday and canceled all remaining flights.

With no means to clear the snow, Charleston International Airport remained closed Friday. One runway was cleared Saturday, but many normal operations weren't expected to resume until Sunday.

States of emergency were declared for coastal Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia because of the winter storm.

A woman passes an ice-covered fountain in New York's Bryant Park, Friday, Jan. 5, 2018. Frigid temperatures, some that could feel as cold as minus 30 degrees, moved across the East Coast on Friday as the region attempted to clean up from Winter Storm Grayson. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
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A woman passes an ice-covered fountain in New York's Bryant Park, Friday, Jan. 5, 2018. Frigid temperatures, some that could feel as cold as minus 30 degrees, moved across the East Coast on Friday as the region attempted to clean up from Winter Storm Grayson. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
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