Nor’easter snow storm stops traffic in the air and at sea

Logan International Airport in Boston is closed today, and few, if any, boats are at sea.

“The ocean is very angry,” Marshfield Harbormaster Michael DiMeo said. “The waves are impressive, but it’s really all a wall of white … If there are boats out there, you can’t even see them.”

Massachusetts Port Authority spokeswoman Jennifer Mehigan said there will be no flights into or out of the airport until Sunday.

“We have a very dedicated snow crew doing their best to keep ahead of the heavy snowfall so that flights can resume tomorrow,” Mehigan said.

Forecasts of the storm caused most airlines to encourage people to change plans, and some waived fees for doing so, said Mehigan of Massport, which runs Logan. So there was an increase in the number of people flying on Thursday and Friday, she said.

In Marshfield, a few people were out “gawking” at the waves in the morning, DiMeo said, but there was “minimal, if any, marine traffic,” based on the automatic identification system, which helps large vessels avoid collisions.

On land, many wires were down, he said, and there was considerable flooding in low-lying areas.

The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency activated all three of its emergency operations centers — in Framingham, Tewksbury and Agahelp — to monitor the storm’s impacts, coordinate response efforts and aid any communities that need help, MEMA spokesman Chris Besse said.

As of 1:30 P.M., the agency helped 11 communities get National Guard high-water vehicles, Besse said, and he urged people to stay off the roads.

By the same time, he said, about 115,00 power outages were reported in Massachusetts, mostly on Cape Cod and in he southeastern part of the state.

 

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/QVDmT9J6X