Residents across the Northeast woke up Thursday to more than 100,000 new power outages and record early snow from a nor'easter that struck just 10 days after Superstorm Sandy battered the region.
"We're right back to the same situation," Kirk Walker of Hackensack, N.J., told NBCNewYork.com after power went out for the third time at his home since Sandy struck.
"They said it was gonna be a rough winter," Walker added. "Sign of things to come, I guess."
The number of new outages was estimated at between 110,000 and 120,000 homes and businesses, according to NBC.
The storm boasted wind gusts of more than 50 mph and dropped heavy snow on already-weakened tree limbs, leading to the new outages.
With the new outages, some 700,000 customers are without power across the Northeast.
Record snowfall totals were recorded across the area:
New York’s Central Park received 4.4 inches of snow on Wednesday -- a record for a Nov. 7 and the earliest 4-inch total in the park's history, NBCNewYork.com reported. By Thursday morning the total had reached 4.7 inches.
A record snowfall of 2 inches was set at Newark, N.J., breaking the old record of a trace amount set in 1981.
Bridgeport, Conn., received 3.5 inches of snow, beating the Nov. 7 record of 2 inches set in 1953.
Some areas inland got 12 to 13 inches of snow.
"This is a classic nor'easter," NBC meteorologist Al Roker said on TODAY, "just very early."
Conditions were still miserable Thursday morning. In New York City, winds were around 25 mph and it was 36 degrees with showers forecast before sunny skies on Friday.
In New Jersey, parts of which saw 9 inches of snow, police said ice and snow contributed to the deaths of two people in a car whose driver was speeding, NBCPhiladelphia reported.
Two people also died in Connecticut in traffic accidents attributed to snow, The Associated Press reported.
Throughout the region, people wore coats indoors as they endured yet another night without heat.
"I thought I was lucky when power was restored last Thursday, but last night it went out again," said Michael Platt, an electrician from Toms River, N.J., who estimated a foot of snow fell in his area. "The kids have been home for nearly two weeks and I'm not working, and when I'm not working I'm not making any money. This hasn't been easy."
"Can you believe this? Enough is enough," added Cindy Casey, whose Belle Harbor home one block from the beach in the Rockaways was swamped by Sandy, as she looked out at the snow blanketing the neighborhood devastated by flooding and fire.
Some of those who had weathered Sandy told NBCNewYork.com they felt like a cruel joke was being played on them.
"Kind of laughing about it at this point," said Danny Arnedos, of Oyster Bay, Long Island. "To go from a hurricane to a nor'easter and driving in the snow in 10 days is pretty unbelievable."
"I am waiting for the locusts and pestilence next," New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Wednesday.
The National Weather Service forecast that the storm will affect New England on Thursday before heading out to sea.
Coastal flooding proved minimal, but commuter bus and train services were disrupted by the storm, with the Long Island Rail Road briefly shutting down all operations to the city's eastern suburbs on Wednesday night.
Gasoline remained in short supply in the New York City area, and regional airports saw 1,600 canceled flights on Wednesday due to the storm. Some 600 more flights were scratched Thursday, according to the flight tracking service FlightAware. The majority of those are in the New York area.
U.S. News
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