Storms From Canada to South Kill 16, Cut Power

An ice storm that cracked tree limbs and glazed roads knocked out power to millions of people in the Northeast and Canada on Thursday, while the same huge system brought violent weather and flooding to the South. At least 16 people died.

“I’d rather be buried in 10 feet of snow!” Tricia Rollins hollered over the roar of a chain saw that removed part of a huge tree that crashed onto her front lawn in Augusta, Maine.

The slow-moving system, which hit the southern Plains earlier in the week, brought high wind, at least one tornado, lightning, thick coastal fog and snow as well as ice and rain. Nine people died in flooding Wednesday and Thursday in the Southeast, including five in one Tennessee county. A weather-related traffic accident killed a North Carolina man, and in Canada, the ice storm was blamed for six deaths.

The power outage numbers told the story: At least 220,000 customers lost electricity in Maine, 800,000 in eastern Canada, nearly 100,000 in upstate New York, 43,000 in New Hampshire and 10,000 in Vermont. The number of people affected easily translates into millions--an estimated 3 million in Canada alone.

Central Maine Power spokesman Mark Ishkanian called it “major, hurricane-type damage. And with continued bad weather forecast for the region, it’s likely things will get worse,” he said.

In Augusta, Maine, the state capital, residents were awakened shortly before dawn by the crack of ice-laden tree limbs that plummeted to the ground with a roar. At times, the sky lit up with the flash of electrical transformers shorting out.

Gov. Angus King declared a state of emergency and told nonessential government workers to stay home.

Late Thursday afternoon, New York Gov. George Pataki directed state prisons in two upstate counties to open their activity centers to residents left without power. They were among dozens of shelters opened throughout the area.

The shelters were housing 350 people late Thursday and that number was expected to increase through the night, officials said.

About 1,500 National Guardsmen were on their way to the region late Thursday with 375 emergency vehicles to assist in evacuation, medical care and road-clearing.

New London, N.H., a picturesque college town of 3,300, banned all travel except for emergencies, a situation rare in the winter-wise state.

In southern Quebec, including the Montreal area, the provincial power company said many of the blacked-out homes and businesses won’t have electricity until next week.

In the South, the rain tapered off by midday, but the effects of all the water that the storm had dumped since Tuesday remained. Schools were closed, roads were blocked by mud and rivers were over their banks from Mississippi to Virginia.