WINTER WHOPPER BURIES REGION

WINTER WHOPPER BURIES REGION
SNOWFALL, WIND CRUSH THE COAST
from The Boston Globe
January 24, 2005, Monday THIRD EDITION
SECTION: METRO/REGION; Pg. A1

BYLINE: By Donovan Slack, GLOBE STAFF

The Blizzard of 2005 delivered a staggering blow to much of Eastern Massachusetts yesterday, dropping more than 3 feet of snow in some places and whipping it into towering drifts with howling gusts that topped 80 miles per hour along the coast.

At least two deaths were attributed to the storm, one of the worst ever to hit the region. One victim was a 10-year-old boy found lifeless in an idling car in Roxbury, parked with its tailpipe blocked by snow. The other was a 64-year-old Brookline man, former Globe columnist David Nyhan, who apparently suffered a heart attack after shoveling snow.

At its height, the fierce and compact storm knocked out power to some 26,000 customers including the entire island of Nantucket and halted air travel and ferry service. While the storm dumped 38 inches of snow in Salem, Cape Cod and the islands bore the brunt of its fury. Sagamore registered 35 inches at 4 p.m. and Yarmouth Port logged 30 inches early in the afternoon, according to the National Weather Service. Logan International Airport reported 22.5 inches of snow at 7 p.m., 5 inches shy of the record, 27.5 inches, set during the Presidents' Day storm of 2003. On Boston Common, the snow measured 26 inches deep.

Drifting was a major concern in many communities, with road closures reported in Nahant, Marblehead, Revere, Quincy, and Provincetown, where snow drifted as high as 8 feet. On Nantucket, firefighters said most island roads were drifted over and some parts of the island were cut off. With no power for lights or heat on Nantucket, emergency officials evacuated many residents to a shelter at the local high school and the island hospital. "People are coping," firefighter Robert Bates said.

The drifts won't be melting anytime soon, forecasters said, with temperatures throughout the region expected to remain below freezing until next Sunday or Monday.

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As strong as the storm was, officials at the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency said it wasn't as bad as they had expected. The fluffy consistency of the snow helped keep property damage to a minimum. Some waterfront homes were damaged by waves in Scituate, but most of the severe flooding that forecasters warned of did not materialize.

"We really dodged a bullet on this one," said Peter Judge, a spokesman for the emergency agency. "It could have been a lot worse."

For the most part, residents across the region hunkered down indoors, leaving the roads free for snowplows and salting trucks. In many communities, though, plowing seemed a futile endeavor for much of the day as strong winds deposited the white stuff back onto roadways nearly as fast as they were cleared.

"We can't even keep up with snow in the parking lot," said one Massachusetts Highway Department employee on the Cape.

In Boston, officials issued 3,200 tickets and towed 320 cars in the 24 hours after Mayor Thomas M. Menino declared a snow emergency at 4 p.m. Saturday. Piles of snow measuring 6 and 8 feet in height dotted the downtown landscape, creating a wintry wonderland on Boston Common and in the Public Garden but posing a safety hazard on city streets. Because of the volume of the curbside drifts, Menino shuttered schools today and tomorrow and asked private businesses to remain closed as well.

"We had to make some real calculated decisions," said Menino, who slept in a chair in his City Hall office on Saturday night.

Public Works Director Joseph Casazza estimated the blizzard will cost more than $3 million before the cleanup is finished, a hefty chunk of the city's $7.5 million snow budget this year. The Inspectional Services Department fielded about 160 calls about heating problems, including complaints of no heat, no hot water, or frozen pipes.

Governor Mitt Romney, who declared a state of emergency on Saturday because of the storm, gave state employees in Eastern Massachusetts the day off today. Romney also asked private employers to "use your best judgment" on whether to open for business.

The storm brought many businesses to a halt yesterday. South Shore Plaza in Braintree was closed all day. (The mall is slated to reopen today at 10 a.m.) Gillette Co. shut down its South Boston factory, where 2,000 employees work, but was expected to reopen last night.

Most major Boston employers said they planned to open as usual today. Fidelity Investments, Putnam Investments, and Citizens Bank all said they would be open. State Street Corp. said some employees would work from home and some work might be diverted to other locations, but that its 24-hour financial operations were unaffected. Bank of America said all of its branches would be operating, with late openings for a few scattered locations.

"We encourage our employees to take public transportation," said Anne Finucane, president of Bank of America's Northeast region. She said all employees should exercise caution in traveling, and that, because of school closings, some employees clearly would not be able to work.

At Logan Airport yesterday, the terminals were quiet and virtually empty, except for a few passengers who hadn't realized that the airport had shut down at 3 a.m. Transportation Safety Administration employees were asked to come to work, along with a skeleton crew of ticket agents, who tried to rebook flights for the few passengers who made an attempt to fly out.

In Truro, farmer George Mooney said the storm "ranks right up there." He measured gusts at 63 miles per hour on his home wind gauge and said the tide in Provincetown Harbor almost covered the town pier.

As with any major snowstorm, some people took advantage of the massive snow accumulation for recreational purposes. Snowmobilers hit the streets in Hingham, while sledders were spotted in Natick.

Jeannine Busick bundled up her 11-month old twins, Haiden and Tobias, in fleece hats, scarves, and snowsuits for a ride down a popular sledding hill at Johnson Elementary School in Natick. Busick, a Newton native, recalled how her parents took photos of her playing in the snow at age 2 during the Blizzard of '78. She wanted the same sort of memories for her own boys.

Copyright 2005 Globe Newspaper Company