An 88-year-old woman was killed while shoveling her driveway in Suffern, New York. Rana Novini reports.
What to Know
The complex storm that tore across the region Wednesday left hundreds of thousands in the dark and some buried under 2 feet of snow
An 88-year-old woman was killed by a falling tree; an unidentified driver in New Jersey died when a live, downed power line ignited the car
Wednesday's storm was the second nor'easter to wallop the tri-state in less than a week; many communities were still recovering from the 1st
The vicious nor'easter that tore down power lines, crippled East Coast travel and buried some under more than two feet of snow is now also a deadly storm.
Authorities confirmed two storm-related fatalities on Thursday: an 88-year-old New York woman crushed by a tree and an unidentified New Jersey driver whose vehicle went up in flames after he drove around a barricade and onto a live wire in the road.
Power outages, downed trees and power lines and now at least two deaths have been blamed on the region's second nor'easter. Ray Villeda reports.
The death of Barbara Soleski, of Rockland County's Suffern, marked the first local fatality from Wednesday's nor'easter. Cops responding to a 911 call on Hillside Avenue around 5 p.m. found Soleski pinned under a large tree outside her home. Two pedestrians were trying to help her.
The tree had knocked down live electrical lines, which came down on the ground around the woman and first responders.
After crews pulled Soleski out, another tree fell, nearly clipping emergency workers with additional live wires.
"She was next to the wires, we were next to them," Suffern Police Chief Clarke Osborn said. "While we were there, wires were popping, coming down next to us."
Police say Soleski was brought to a hospital in critical condition but later died; she had suffered a severe head injury.
Neighbors said even though she was 88, she was independent and very active. She had been trying to shovel her driveway during the height of the storm when the tree came crashing down.
Soleski's neighbor Eileen Mack was in disbelief, saying she'd known her for more than 50 years. "Just to lose a great, great friend," she said.
The second death came Thursday morning around 9 a.m. Authorities responding to a 911 call on Summit Avenue in Franklin Lakes, which saw 2 feet of snow fall Wednesday, found a vehicle fully engulfed in fire, a live power line in the road nearby, near the intersection of Route 208.
The lone occupant of the car was found next to the vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene The driver, a man, has not yet been identified. Authorities believe he ignored a roadblock and came in contact with a downed wire, which was found near his body.
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Dawn Thursday revealed more destruction. Here, a fallen tree crushes a car at Vanderbilt and Myrtle avenues in Fort Greene.
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Andi, a Boston Terrier mix who wandered the streets after Hurricane Maria before being rescued from Puerto Rico earlier this year, tries to keep at least one paw out of the snow at her Maplewood home.
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A driver spun out and flipped her car on the LIE as the storm worsened. (She wasn't seriously injured.)
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By 10 a.m. Nutley, NJ was already coated with a solid 2 inches of snow.
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Two tractor-trailers collided on the eastbound LIE near exit 35 as the snow picked up.
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Hard to beat the sights in Manhattan on a snowy morning, at least before the storm gets bad.
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The fourth nor'easter of March may bring a foot of snow to NYC, including this basketball court in Brooklyn.
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The calm before the storm, as seen from Hoboken early Wednesday morning. By 8 a.m. snow was steadier in New York City, accumulating in parts of Staten Island.
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By 9 a.m. it was already getting difficult to get a train to either Boston or Washington.
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In the New Jersey suburbs around Newark, snow wasn't sticking to much yet as of 8:30 a.m.
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A 30-40 foot tree falls in backyard of Short Hills, New Jersey home, narrowly missing the guest house by only inches.
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Valeria Montenegro in Copiague, Long Island, shares with News 4 this view of her street caused by the storm: "The trampoline has been blown out of someone's yard and is now tangled in the power lines and is partially obstructing the street."
A huge tree came crashing down onto a car on 235th Street near Riverdale Avenue in the Bronx.
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Carli waits for a car ride on a snowy afternoon in Vernon, New Jersey, on Wednesday, March 7, 2018.
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About a dozen other people suffered various storm-related injuries across the tri-state area Wednesday. A teacher was struck by lightning while holding an umbrella on bus duty outside a school in Manchester Township, New Jersey. The woman felt a tingling sensation but didn't lose consciousness. She was taken to a hospital with minor injuries.
A 19-year-old Rider University student was hit by a snow plow near the campus residence halls in Lawrenceville. She remained hospitalized Thursday, but the school said administration members and family had visited her and she was reported to be in good spirits.
In Westport, Connecticut, a person was taken to the hospital after being hit by a falling tree branch. And in North White Plains, New York, 10 people were taken to hospitals with symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning after running a generator inside a home. All 10 are expected to survive.
The complex storm that tore across the region Wednesday left hundreds of thousands of people in the dark and buried some under two feet of snow. It was the second nor'easter to wallop the tri-state in less than a week; many communities were still recovering from the first, which also knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of customers.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association
The New York Times on March 13, 1888, labeled the blizzard "the worst storm the city has ever known," and that may just hold true, judging by reports from the time. Location: A grocery store on 11th Street, looking west.
"It is hard to believe in this last quarter of the nineteenth century that for even one day New-York could be so completely isolated from the rest of the world as if Manhattan Island was in the middle of the South Sea," a Times reporter wrote. Location: 63rd Street and Third Avenue.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association
But initially it was the blizzard no one saw coming. When the storm first struck on March 11, temperatures were mild. One weatherman, Elias B. Dunn, predicted that the weather for the next day would be: "Cloudy followed by light rain and clearing." He had checked with the Coast Guards, and nobody expected that a calamitous storm was on its way. Location: Outside the former Astor House, on the corner of Broadway between Barclay and Vesey Streets in Manhattan, one of the first luxury hotels in New York City.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association
On March 12, two separate storms zoomed into the city, one from the north, one from the south. "It was as if New York had been a burning candle upon which nature had clapped a snuffer, leaving nothing of the city's activity but a struggling ember," The New York Sun wrote. Location: On Baxter Street in lower Manhattan.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association
The city was buried in drifts of up to 30 feet deep as winds raged. "Few of the women who work for their living could get to their work places. Never, perhaps, in the history of petticoats was the imbecility of their designer better illustrated," a reporter for the New York Sun wrote. Location: Ms. Porter's School in Farmington Connecticut, where a tunnel has been made for pedestrians.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association
Some of the stories from the time beggar belief. Historian G. J. Christiano writes that one man suffered a gash on his forehead when he fell into a snow drift."The drift was soft and deep, but his head struck the leg of a dead horse buried there. For some time afterward, the man showed his friends the wound and boasted that he was the first person ever kicked by a dead horse." Location: Flushing, Queens.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association
Incredible reports say that ice formed on the East River, and many people were able to walk from Brooklyn to Manhattan. Telephone and telegraph lines went down, cutting off communications between major cities. Location: An abandoned horse car is seen outside Hotel Martin at University Place, on the corner of 9th Street, Manhattan.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association
Historian G. J. Christiano describes another odd story from the time, about middle aged man on his way home in Manhattan who becomes overcome by cold. "He staggered to a lamppost for support, hoping he would regain his strength. Instead he fell asleep. His face began to freeze to the post and the cold numbed his jaws, shrinking them so they could no longer hold his false teeth. Finally, he woke from his stupor and stumbled home. There he collapsed from cold and exhaustion. The following morning, he realized his false teeth were gone! He returned to the lamppost and found them there, firmly stuck to the ice on the post." And you think we've got snow troubles? Location: Park Place, Brooklyn
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association
As you can see, the writers of the time were not ones to downplay an event. Of the 1888 storm a Herald reporter wrote: "A horror of darkness deepened on the crowded city and the terror-stricken population cowered at the awful sounds which came from the throat of the whirlwind...The heavens darkened and a great roaring sound came from the thundering clouds. It seemed as if a million devils were loose in the air..." Location: Unknown.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association
Once the storm of a million devils was done, 200 New Yorkers had died, the New York Public Library archives estimates. In the history of New York, the Blizzard of '88 will forever live. Location: 149 Broadway, Manhattan.
