Enduring storm hits New England with snow, flooding after blasting Midwest, mid-Atlantic

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A house on the Plum Island seacoast in Newbury, Mass., sits partially collapsed into the churning surf, driven by winds from a slow-moving storm centered far out in the Atlantic Ocean, at high tide Friday morning, March 8, 2013. The storm dropped up to a foot of snow in some parts of New England, caused coastal flooding in Massachusetts and slowed the morning commute in the region to a slushy crawl. (AP Photo/Newburyport Daily News, Jim Vaiknoras)

WHITMAN, Mass. - A slow-moving storm centred far out in the Atlantic Ocean dropped more than a foot of snow on parts of New England, caused coastal flooding that washed away a home in Massachusetts, and turned Friday commutes into slushy crawls.

Flooding from the enduring storm, which buried parts of the Midwest and mid-Atlantic in deep snow this week before sweeping northward, closed some coastal roads north and south of Boston. An unoccupied home north of the city collapsed into the ocean as waves battered it.

The snow made for a slippery commute Friday as far south as Pennsylvania and New York, where the National Weather Service said New York City could see up to 6 inches of accumulation before the snow tapered off around 6 p.m.

Thousands of homes and businesses lacked power, and schools across New England remained closed.

Some districts, including Boston, were criticized for holding classes despite icy sidewalks and poorly plowed roads as snow totals rose much higher than expected. The district eventually said students would get credit for attending classes Friday even if they were absent. The National Weather Service reported nearly 13 inches of snow at Logan International Airport as of 1 p.m., with as much as 22 inches in some parts of Massachusetts and Connecticut.

"This is a heavier-than-projected snowfall which made this morning's commute if anyone was in it — and I was — a mess," Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said at a briefing.

With spring less than two weeks away, Lisa Parisella, of Beverly, Mass., had been ready to dig out her sandals. Instead, she found herself donning her winter boots for a trip to the grocery store to make sure she had enough food for her kids, whose classes were cancelled.

"This was unexpected," said Parisella, 47, an office manager. Forecasts had called for between 1 and 8 inches of snow, and she expected a total on the lower end. Instead, Beverly had well over a foot by noon, and snow continued to fall.

"I was ready to start decorating for spring," she said. "I was thinking, March, ready to take out the sandals, and I'm taking out the boots again."

Tim Wicker, a self-employed 32-year-old resident of Norwich, Conn., said the latest storm wasn't too bad, but he was also longing for spring.

"The other day I was out in a T-shirt," Wicker said. "Now we're dealing with this again. It's going to be 54 on Sunday. It's just New England."

In Scituate, Mass., a shoreline town about 20 miles south of Boston, police Chief Brian Stewart breathed a sigh of relief Friday morning after high tide. The town got some coastal flooding — it almost always does during major storms — and eight roads were closed under 2 to 3 feet of water.

"It's coming over the usual spots," he said. "I would say we were fortunate because at this point we have no reports of injuries or major damage."

Residents of coastal roads evacuated voluntarily, with about 10 staying at a town shelter and the rest filling up a local hotel.

In Whitman, which had nearly a foot of snow by 10 a.m., Maureen Chittick's house was among those that lost electricity for a while. Grandchildren Nicole Clark, 15, and Gary Clark, 13, came inside for an old-fashioned game with marbles after shovelling the snow out of her driveway.

"I was shovelling and I saw purple flowers underneath," Nicole Clark said. "I thought to myself, 'Summer is never going to come.' I just want summer. Bring on the hot, the beach!"

On Cape Cod, where the storm was expected to be mostly rain, officials worried about beach erosion. The area suffered extensive erosion from Superstorm Sandy in October and a major snowstorm last month.

"We've really gotten more erosion in the last six months than we've experienced in the last decade," said Sandwich Town Manager George Dunham.

Some less severe beach erosion was forecast along the southern Maine coast, and some parts of New Hampshire saw a foot of snow or more.

In New Jersey, a coastal flood advisory finally expired after waves during high tide inundated coastal roads in areas hard-hit by Sandy in late October.

The storm killed three people in Virginia, including a 22-year-old man who died after his vehicle ran off an icy road. Up to 20 inches of snow piled up in central and western Virginia, which had more than 200,000 outages at the height of the storm.

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Jay Lindsay in Beverly, Mass.; Bridget Murphy in Boston and John Christoffersen in New Haven, Conn., contributed to this report.