New England Takes A Hit As Storm Scrapes Northward.

A winter storm that shut down much of the South churned up the coast Wednesday, dumping snow across the Northeast and saving its most brutal punch for New England, where hundreds of cars spun out and schools and businesses shut down.


Armies of plows and salt spreaders hit streets across the region to stem chaos during Wednesday morning's commute. In Connecticut, where nearly 2 feet of snow had fallen and it was still coming down, state police responded to about 500 spinouts, fender-benders and stranded vehicles. Four minor injuries were reported.

"Troopers are going from one stranded vehicle to another," said Lt. J. Paul Vance, a department spokesman.The storm forced hundreds of flight cancelations and snarled travel across the region, with Amtrak suspending service between New York City and Boston because of damage to the overhead power system south of Boston.

In New York, where officials took heavy criticism for their slow response to a Dec. 26 blizzard, the morning commute got off to a promising start as plows cleared streets that had been blocked for days by the last storm. Nearly 9 inches fell in Central Park, well short of 20 inches that last month's storm dumped on the city.

New England, though, appeared to be caught off guard by the ferocity of the latest storm. Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, leading the state through what threatened to be his first disaster, ordered a double shift of state troopers onto highways.

Heavy snow and gusting winds closed hundreds of schools and businesses from Maine and New Hampshire southward.

"You can't see across the street. The wind and snow is blowing about 40 miles an hour sideways," said Artie Perrin, general manager at Kelly's Roast Beef in Revere, Mass., north of Boston.