First responders in Wakefield, as well as crews from the Municipal Gas and Light Department, spent the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday handling several calls for service as a dangerous winter storm brought significant snowfall, strong thunderstorms and blustery winds to the northeastern U.S.
While the precipitation this morning in Wakefield was rain — and a lot of it — the town was not spared damage from high winds. Shingles lifted up but held in place on a rooftop on Albion Street, trees swayed back and forth and some streets experienced temporary ponding.
Frigid temperatures followed by heavy rain and high winds kept the Fire Department busy dealing with a variety of issues over the weekend, including burst water pipes. The high winds were also blamed for several calls for arcing electrical wires in trees.
On Friday at 11:40 a.m. a call from an Emerson Street address became the first of a number of reports of frozen pipes over the weekend.
At about 12:15 p.m. on Sunday, a resident reported wires arcing near tree branches on Morrison Road West. The Fire Department responded and stood by for the arrival of the Light Department.
At around 12:30 p.m. on Sunday a broken sprinkler pipe cause significant damage to two units of an apartment complex at 101 Hopkins Street. Residents of those units were displaced as a result.
At 8:30 p.m. on Sunday, arcing wires near trees drew the Fire Department and the Light Department to Armory Street.
At about 8:30 p.m. on Sunday, the Fire Department was notified of kids on the ice on Lake Quannapowitt. The youths were advised to stay off the ice.
The Fire Department was called to the Genesis Center nursing home on Bathol Street at about 3:15 this morning after a sprinkler pipe burst. Due to the damage, four patients had to be relocated to other areas of the facility.
A burst pipe also drew the Fire Department to a Main Street home at 4 a.m. this morning.
At 7:15 this morning, arcing wires on a utility pole drew the Fire Department and the MGLD to a location on Farm Street.
A foot of snow was forecast for parts of New England, New York state, Ohio and Pennsylvania through Tuesday morning, and nearly 75,000 customers in the region were without power as of Monday morning.
Forecasters in Buffalo, New York, said the snow was falling fast.
“WOW! (Latest) snow measurement at 1 AM was 4.6 inches in the last hour at the Buffalo Airport!” the National Weather Service in Buffalo tweeted overnight. “And tack on another 4 inches in the last hour ending at 2 AM! Total so far since late Sun evening – 10.2 inches.”
New York City and Boston were spared the heaviest snowfall, which was accumulating at higher elevations in western Massachusetts, eastern Pennsylvania and parts of New England. A severe thunderstorm warning remained in effect for New York City early Monday, and high winds made travel treacherous across the region.
“We’ve had a very strong area of low pressure that’s kind of moved up the coast, with pretty heavy snowfall accumulations from Tennessee, North Carolina all the way into the northeast,” said meteorologist Marc Chenard at the weather service’s headquarters in College Park, Maryland.
The highest snowfall accumulations so far have been in the North Carolina mountains, at over a foot, Chenard said.
“The bigger cities — New York, Boston — it’s warmed up, it’s rain there,” he said.
Forecasters said wind gusts in the major city could top out around 45 mph (72 kph), and around 60 mph (97 kph) on Long Island.
The howling winds spread a fire that destroyed a motel and two other structures in coastal Salisbury, Massachusetts, early Monday.
Sleet and rain were the main threats for much of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Periods of snowfall transitioned to rain overnight. NWS meteorologists in Boston said wind gusts could reach 70 mph (113 kph).
The massive winter system brought similar conditions to the Southeast on Sunday. Multiple states reported inches of snow, and two people died Sunday in North Carolina when when their car drove off the road and into trees in the median as the storm blew mixed precipitation through.
Severe thunderstorms in Florida spun up a tornado with 118 mph (190 kph) winds, destroying 30 mobile homes and majorly damaging 51 more. Three minor injuries were reported.
Wet roadways in the South were expected to refreeze Monday, creating icy conditions for motorists.
Plow trucks were scattered along roads and highways up the East Coast, working to clear the way for travelers. Some crashes were reported in the early morning hours, including an ambulance involved in a wreck on Interstate 279 in Pittsburgh, KDKA-TV reported. It was unclear whether anyone was injured.
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.
