Imperial Valley press., 1934-02-20
BAD BLIZZARD
RAISES HAVOC
IN NORTHWEST
Most Severe Storm In Years Is
Reported From New England
And New York Area.
MANY CITIES SNOWBOUND
transportation And Communi-
cation Services Suffer From
Extremely Heavy Fall.

A cold wave rode down on the
Northeastern states today on the
heels of a driving blizzard causing
II known deaths and endangering
traffic and shipping.
In New York an eight-inch snow
fall was packed into drifts four feet
deep by the wind, creating the
worst traffic tieup in years, and af-
focting half a million commuters.
The delay in transportation caused
the stock exchange and the curb eX-
change to postpone the opening an
hour.
Traffic in New England was COM
pletely paralyzed. Virtually all OF
Connecticut was snoWbound and
transportation impossible.
NEW YORK, Feb. 20. U.P)--An
intense blizzard engulfed the East
ern states today, causing at least
five deaths and doing incalculable
damage Two vessels were reported
in distress off the New England
coast, with the freighter Northern
Sword flashing repeated SOS sig
mails from off Winthrop, Mass.
All the New England states, New
York, New jersey and Pennsylvania
were blanketed under a deep lay
er OF snow. The snow was piled into
impossible banks in strong wind.
Dozens of communities were snow
bound. Offices in Boston, New York,
In n, ntl
cities were handicapped because
crippled transportation systems pre-
vented employees from reaching
them.
The Northern Sword was aground
off Winthrop and her last radio
message, picked up by both Mack
kay and Radio Marine, said she was
being pounded heavily. Grave fears
were felt for the safety of her crew,
believed to number about 20 men.
The coast guard cutter Dix re-
pCrted at 1855 a. m. that she had
reached the side of the stricken
treighter, and was standing by. The
vessel was stranded on treacherouS
ledge.
During the night an unidentified
vessel sent out repeated whistle
blasts which were taken to mean she
was in distress in Long Island
Conn. The Whirling snow made it
impossible to identify her, although
she looked like an oil tanker. An
expedition was being organized to
leach her.
The five known dead were in
Pennsylvania. The death toll was
expected to be higher when COM
plete check Of all the area is made
Suffering Intense
Suffering among the poor was in
tense everywhere.
New York City was preparing to
hire 10000 men to assist its normal
street cleaning force.
The snow fall at a. m. ranged
from four to II inches. In Buffa-
10 the thermometer was falling ra-
pidly and the unofficial reading at
that hour was IA degrees below zero.
Zero and sub-zero weather was pre-
dotted for all states during the day
The intense cold following the hea-
Wy snow fall redoubled suffering.
New York a city where large
percentage of its population works
on the island of Manhattan, and
commutes back and forth daily from
New Jersey, Long Island, and vari-
Gus Westchester county communi-
ties, was crippled as it has seldom
been in recent years.
All surface and elevated trans
port was running far behind sched-
ules. The Long Island railroad,
which hauls thousands of commu-
ters daily, reported its lines dis
rupted." Approximately 100 poles
were down and automatic signal
switches would not work, thus halt
ing many trains.