Record snowfall totals are being set up and down the northeast this past Halloween weekend. Plainfield, Massachusetts saw 27 inches of wet snow in the past 48 hours which is a record for this time of year. Even New York City saw the flakes flying and they received around 1.5 inches. The heavy wet snow has caused 21 deaths in the region. These deaths have been associated with down electric wires,fallen trees from the wet snow and traffic accidents. Additionally this storm has also left three million without electricity. States of emergency have been declared in New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and certain parts of New York. Airports have been bogged down and some roads have become inaccessible for the time being. A lot of people were unprepared for the winter weather to strike so early in the season and therefore long term power outages and expected to occur for the remainder of today and into the rest of the week.
Looking at this situation from a complexity approach, the overall preparedness for this storm was low due to the fact that the entire northeast is still recovering from the Irene which flooded large areas of the region a few months ago wiping entire towns off the map in states such as Vermont. From a personal point of view however, after having worked in the northeast in New Hampshire I know that the people of this region are very hearty and they can deal with large snowstorms such as the Halloween blizzard.
image:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/30/MNFA1LOALE.DTL
Article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/AP4a3385d8d10049a6825f80f1d086fed9.html
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