Several days after a nor'easter blew through the region, tens of thousands of people in New York and New Jersey are coping without electricity and, in some cases, heat and hot water. Some school districts also canceled classes today, either because of power problems or because trees had fallen across bus routes.
While New York City made it through the storm more or less unscathed, the suburbs saw a very different situation. Across Westchester and Nassau counties, as well as in northern New Jersey, people are reporting felled trees blocking roads and damaging power lines. In some cases, residents say the nor'easter caused more damage than Sandy in 2012.
"There was a tree down across the road, but it was high enough up that cars could drive under it. So that was exciting," said Jordan Jankus, 67, who lives in Crompond, in northern Westchester.
The main utilities in the region say they hope to have power restored at all homes by late Tuesday night. But they are racing the clock, as another winter storm is expected to hit sometime early Wednesday. Amoret Jorgensen, 57, of Chappaqua, said the storm knocked a pair of trees onto the power lines outside her home, and she's concerned that the next one will bring them down completely.
"If there's snow or ice, sleet, whatever, added weight...it's probable that those two trees with the domino effect will bring down everything," said Jorgensen.
Others took the power outages in stride. Hopewell, New Jersey, resident Anya Raskin, 31, gave birth to her daughter Rita just a few days before the storm. When her house lost power on Friday, she and her husband just laughed—because they got married in the middle of Sandy.
"We were like, 'Oh. Well, figures. All of our major life events are marked by a power outage,'" Raskin said.
Luckily, Raskin had flashlights and a batter-powered night light ready to go. Her main concern is to make sure her baby stays warm during the upcoming snowstorm.
In Westchester and Putnam counties, 12 school districts were closed, with another six postponed the opening of school or had partial closures, according to the news web site LoHud.com.