Albany, N.Y. – The Northeast braced for a hard-blowing nor’easter Saturday that could bring severe coastal flooding, power outages and more than a foot of snow in some places.
As the system blew across the plains, the unusually violent spring storm rattled gulf states with violent thunderstorms, raked Texas with high winds and was blamed for five deaths.
“This is very odd for this time of year,” National Weather Service meteorologist John Koch said Saturday in New York. “This is something that you would expect to see more in the middle of winter.”
The storm tore roofs off houses and destroyed porches and garages in Haltom City, Texas, near Fort Worth. More than 10 tractor-trailer rigs were blown onto their sides.
Also in Texas, one man was killed in Fort Worth by a pile of lumber that fell on him from his truck during the storm, and a police officer in Irving died when his patrol car slid on wet pavement and struck a utility pole, authorities said.
Three people were killed in Kansas in traffic accidents on highways covered with ice and slush, police said.
The weather system was forecast to strengthen when it reaches the East Coast today. Officials warned that coastal Long Island, N.Y., could see some of its worst flooding since a winter storm that wrecked havoc in late 1992.
Gov. Eliot Spitzer said some low-lying areas may need to be evacuated, and he deployed 3,200 members of the National Guard to areas predicted to be in the storm’s path.
