Blizzard Nemo Paralyzes Northeast States

The potentially historic blizzard that marched into the Northeast Friday put parts of the region in a virtual transportation lockdown, with the Massachusetts and Connecticut governors signing state orders banning cars from the road, trains ceasing service, and airlines halting flights in and out of Boston and New York. The storm picked up in intensity during the day Friday, and was expected to dump as much as 14 inches of snow on the New York City area and as much as three feet across New England before tapering off Saturday afternoon. Forecasters were warning of winds of up to 60 miles per hour, and snow drifts as high as five feet. "It definitely looks like it has the potential to be a historic event," said Lance Franck, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Taunton, Mass. City and state officials were desperately trying to avoid the mayhem of the infamous Blizzard of 1978, which dumped three feet of snow across the Northeast, leading to dozens of deaths and scores of drivers stranded on the highways. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick took the rare step of signing an executive order outright banning motorists from all roads as of 4 p.m. Friday. Certain exceptions were being made for public-health workers, emergency vehicles, media and critical services. Violators could receive a civil fine. Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy issued a similar but less comprehensive order. To the north in New Hampshire, Gov. Maggie Hassan didn't go as far as ordering cars off state roads, but she did urge residents to stop driving by early evening. In New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg encouraged people to leave work early Friday. New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo later declared a state of emergency to give local governments more flexibility in handling the anticipated snowfall, saying New York City and Long Island would be worst hit. "This is a storm of major proportions," warned Boston Mayor Thomas Menino in a public briefing, in which city officials also asked people to look out for the homeless, by alerting authorities if a homeless person was seen on the street and not in a shelter. Meteorologists were blaming the nor'easter on the collision of two storm systems: cold air traveling south from Canada bumping into a moist low pressure system heading north from the Carolinas. As conditions deteriorated in the Northeast, transportation all but ground to a halt. Boston's public commuter rail stopped operations. Amtrak canceled service between New York and Boston for Friday afternoon, and plans limited service for Saturday. A spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said airlines canceled more than 2,000 flights at the three major New York-area airports alone on Friday. He said all operations at the airports would cease by late Friday afternoon, but that airlines could resume some flights on Saturday. At Boston Logan International Airport, officials said all operations would cease at 3 p.m. on Friday and flights may not resume until Sunday. Massachusetts General Hospital expected to have at least 200 employees sleeping on cots Friday night, and the 1,000-bed facility was making accommodations for patients who couldn't make it home because of the storm, said Paul Biddinger, medical director for the Boston hospital's emergency department. "We did try to discharge as many people who could be safely discharged, but the hospital is going to end up very, very full tonight," Dr. Biddinger said.