A powerful Nor’Easter brought strong winds and heavy rain to much of the Southern New England region on Friday, March 2. The storm resulted in widespread power outages across Rhode Island and Massachusetts, with parts of coastal Massachusetts experiencing damaging flooding as well. Several towns in New York received close to 40 inches of snow from the storm.
The storm turned off power for 150,000 National Grid customers in Rhode Island, which was more power outages than Superstorm Sandy in 2012. As of Sunday afternoon, over 30,000 customers remained without power. In Massachusetts, over 500,000 homes lost power. Some places in Massachusetts are not expected to have power restored for days. In some areas, it could take close to a week for power to be fully restored. Winds of 80 miles per hour were recorded in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
Coastal flooding occurred in several areas of Massachusetts, which was considered to be hardest hit in terms of damage by the storm. Towns such as Scituate and Duxbury saw coastal flooding that covered streets in water and debris. The area saw three high tide cycles affected by the storm. Videos taken in Scituate showed large waves crashing over ocean-front homes.
Two towns in Schoharie County, New York, saw 40 inches of snow accumulation during the storm. Sharon Springs and Richmondville both recorded 40 inches of snow, while nearby locations recorded over two feet of snow. Other areas of New York, including Albany, saw close to a foot of snow fall.
Local News
Each night in Providence, buildings and police cars flash their lights at 8:30 p.m. as a way of saying goodnight to children at the Hasbro Children’s Hospital. Due to power outages from Friday’s storm, the Hot Club, which is a regular participant in the event, said they feared they wouldn’t have power restored in time to shine the lights at the hospital. After hearing of this, Providence firefighters sent multiple trucks to the building to flash their lights instead.
A 25-year-old South Kingstown woman was charged Friday in connection to a East Greenwich car crash earlier in the year that killed two people. Precious G. Montey was charged with two counts of driving under the influence that resulted in death. The crash occurred on Jan. 27, when “she lost control of her car near the intersection of the northbound lanes of I-95,” according to WPRI. She then stuck a tree, which killed two passengers in her car. Her blood alcohol level was nearly three times the legal limit. A police investigation led to a warrant for her arrest and she surrendered herself to state troopers Thursday night.
National News
President Donald Trump said Thursday that steel imports will now face a 25 percent tariff and aluminum imports will face a 10 percent tariff. Trump said that the United States has an $800 billion trade debt because of “very stupid trade deals and policies” that he vowed to end. Trump also proposed a tariff on European Union made cars.
China has said that they will not sit idly by if Trump’s tariffs hurt their economy. Trump responded that “trade wars are good.” Several Republicans questioned Trump’s tariff plan and asked him to reconsider the proposal, while steelworkers have largely praised his proposal, according to CNN.
The White House was put into lockdown Saturday after a man pulled out a concealed handgun and shot himself in front of the North White House fence line. The man was identified as 26-year old Cameron Ross Burgess of Maylene, Alabama. Medical personnel were called to the scene, but he was pronounced dead. The shelter in place at the White House ended after approximately 45 minutes. The shooter fired several rounds, but none were fired in the White House’s direction.
The Oscars were held on Sunday, March 4. The show was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, who at one point gathered actors and actresses to go to a next door movie theater to surprise viewers of a movie as a way of thanking them for supporting Hollywood films. These were the first Oscars to be held following the start of the ‘MeToo’ era. However, the show saw historically low ratings, as viewsherhip declined by 15 to 20 percent from 2017. Some believe this is a result of Kimmel’s politically charged comments throughout the show.
International News
South Korea has announced that they are sending a high level delegation to the capital of North Korea, Pyongyang, to talk about inter-Korean relations and establishing conditions for North Korea talks with the United States. South Korea is sending the delegation on Monday. Among the delegation will be South Korea’s spy chief and top security advisor.
After the delegation returns from North Korea, which they will be in for two days, they will go to South Korea for a briefing and then to the United States to talk about the visit, according to CNN. Trump recently said that North Korea reached out to him about talks between the two countries. He said that the United States wants to talk, but that North Korea “must de-nuke.” Trump said he will see what happens regarding the talks, if they happen in the first place.