As a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association with an “A+” rating for her voting record in the Tennessee House of Representatives, Debra Maggart never imagined that her political career would end this way.NEWPORT, R.I. – Travel eased and life slowly returned to normal for most New Englanders after a massive blizzard, but many remained without power in cold and darkened homes and a forecast of rain brought a new worry: weight piling up dangerously on roofs already burdened by heavy snow.
The storm that slammed into the region with up to 3 feet of snow was blamed for at least 14 deaths in the Northeast and Canada and brought some of the highest accumulations ever recorded. Still, coastal areas were largely spared catastrophic damage despite being lashed by strong waves and hurricane-force wind gusts at the height of the storm.
Utility crews, some brought in from as far away as Georgia, Oklahoma and Quebec, raced to restore power to more than 300,000 customers – down from 650,000 in eight states at the height of the storm.
In hardest-hit Massachusetts, where 234,000 customers remained without power Sunday, officials said some of the outages might linger until Tuesday.
Bans on driving were lifted and flights resumed at major airports in the region that had closed during the storm, though many flights were still canceled as of Sunday.
The Boston-area public transportation system, which shut down Friday afternoon, partially resumed subway service and some bus routes on Sunday.
Boston recorded 24.9 inches of snow, making it the fifth-largest storm in the city since records were kept.
