ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Utility crews pushed through fallen trees and windblown debris to reach downed power lines Sunday, working to restore electricity to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses as strong winds and heavy rain that wreaked havoc in parts of the Northeast pushed on into New England.
The storm, which battered parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut on Saturday with gusts of up to 70 mph, struck about two weeks after heavy snow and hurricane-force winds left more than a million customers in the Northeast in the dark. More than a half-million customers in the region lost electricity at the peak of Saturday’s storm, and more than 485,000 were waiting for power to be restored Sunday morning.
Traveling was problematic on the rails and in the air. More than 500 passengers on a New Jersey Transit train were stranded for six to seven hours because of power supply problems, spokesman Dan Stessel said Sunday. Amtrak service between Philadelphia and New York was suspended for hours before limited service was restored, spokesman Cliff Cole said.
Flights at Newark Liberty International Airport were delayed by as many as four hours Saturday, and some flights bound for New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport had to be redirected to Boston’s Logan International Airport.
At the storm’s peak, more than 265,000 customers in the New York City area and 235,000 customers in New Jersey were without power. The Philadelphia area reported 70,000 customers without electricity, while more than 80,000 customers in Connecticut sat in the dark.
In Uniondale, N.Y., the aging Nassau Coliseum lost three pieces of its aluminum facade about 90 minutes before the start of the New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders National Hockey League game.
In Atlantic City, the horizontal arm of a boom crane plunged 47 floors at the Revel Casino construction site. Debris went flying and crashed through the driver’s side window of a police cruiser; the officer suffered minor injuries.
One person was killed and three others were injured in Westport, Conn., after a tree fell on a car Saturday night during the storm, police said.
Police in the New York City suburb of Teaneck were investigating whether two people found dead Saturday night were killed by a falling tree. The tree took down power lines as it fell. Chief Robert Wilson told The Record of Bergen County that police believe the two were walking on the sidewalk.
Two condominium complexes near the construction site were evacuated and several area roads were briefly closed. A shelter was set up at the Atlantic City Convention Center. The wind also caused at least two homes to collapse and damaged other homes and buildings.
At least 4 inches of rain fell Saturday in parts of New Jersey, and an additional 1 to 2 inches was expected through early Sunday.
The National Weather Service is posting a wind advisory and flood watch in extreme southern Maine and parts of New Hampshire as the storm works its way to northern New England.
Forecasters said Sunday the rain may be hard at times, especially along the coast, and wind could gust to 50 mph on Sunday in Maine’s York County and Rochester, Dover and Exeter areas of New Hampshire.
In inland Maine, wind won’t be so severe but rain mixed with snow or sleet were expected.
The Maine Emergency Management Agency says it’s monitoring the storm but isn’t anticipating any major damage. Officials say the rivers are low enough to take in heavy rainfall.
In New Hampshire, forecasters say the storm has the potential to bring down trees and cause power outages.