Gloucester, Mass. – A nor’easter that drew energy from the remnants of far-off Hurricane Wilma battered New England and the mid-Atlantic states with 20-foot waves and winds up to 70 mph Tuesday, brought some inland areas their first snow of the season and knocked out power to nearly 200,000 homes and businesses.
The powerful nor’easter reminded fishermen of the deadly “Perfect Storm” of October 1991.
“It’s pretty nasty,” said John Yard, who had rented an apartment a block from the ocean in Manasquan, N.J., three weeks ago – just in time for flooding caused by eight consecutive days of rain earlier this month. “It’s been hell with all the flooding and the water out here. It’s amazing what this weather is doing.”
On Cape Cod, Harwich Harbormaster Thomas Leach recorded sustained winds of 56 mph and gusts of 70 mph.
The storm was reinforced by the remnants of Hurricane Wilma, which was about 400 miles southeast of Boston and speeding toward the North Atlantic after battering Florida.
“It’s getting some energy from Wilma, but it’s its own separate system,” said Alan Dunham, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Taunton. The nor’easter is “a good storm in its own right.”
Many commercial fishermen stayed in port, mindful of the “Perfect Storm,” which inspired the book and movie of the same name about a Gloucester fishing boat that disappeared when a nor’easter collided with Hurricane Grace in the North Atlantic.
“I wouldn’t want to be out there today – too dangerous,” fisherman Matt Farrara said as he made repairs to his boat at Gloucester. He fished through the 1991 storm.
Dozens of flights were canceled at Boston’s Logan Airport. In the New York City area, airports reported flight delays of as much as 3 1/2 hours.
With the ground already soggy from one of the rainiest Octobers on record, the high winds toppled trees, snapping power lines.
In Massachusetts alone, 40,000 homes and businesses lost electricity. Snow fell at higher elevations from West Virginia, which got up to 7 inches, to northern Maine. The wet, heavy snow downed tree limbs and power lines, blacking out 76,000 customers in West Virginia and 27,000 in Pennsylvania.
