Frigid Winds Whip Into the Northeast

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Lake Erie surged over its eastern shore Wednesday, adding flooding to the headaches delivered by a windy storm that tipped tractor-trailers, disrupted flights, and toppled trees and power lines across a wide swath of the nation.

Arctic air roared into New York before dawn, sending Tuesday's springlike temperatures plummeting. Buffalo went from 53 degrees at 3 a.m. Wednesday to 15 degrees by noon. Classes were canceled at most area schools.

High winds were suspected of collapsing a scaffold at a Brooklyn building that killed a construction worker and seriously injured another Wednesday morning.

In northern Ohio, a train traveling in high winds derailed on a bridge over Sandusky Bay around 4 a.m., sending about 10 freight cars into the water, said Ottawa County Sheriff Robert Bratton. No injuries were reported.

Authorities on Tuesday rescued five people camping in a van near Elkton, Ore., the Douglas County sheriff's office said. They had planned to leave Sunday but were trapped by snow. With supplies dwindling, one man hiked to find cell phone service and to contact relatives in Tacoma, Wash., who then notified authorities.

In Washington state, an avalanche trapped two cars and forced the closure of the westbound lane of snowy Interstate 90, the state's main east-west thoroughfare, at Snoqualmie Pass. No one was injured in the avalanche, which occurred just hours after the road was reopened following its longest weather closure since 2002.

The National Weather Service in Buffalo reported sustained winds of 40 to 50 mph, with a gust of 68 mph. Gusts of 46 mph were reported at LaGuardia Airport and close to 50 mph at Kennedy Airport.

Several inches of icy water covered some roads in Buffalo's Old First Ward neighborhood after Lake Erie suddenly rose 10 1/2 feet around 6 a.m. and left behind chunks of ice as it receded through the morning.

"Lake Erie is so shallow that when you get a wind shift of such magnitude ... it's almost like in a bathtub when you get the water moving back and forth," Weather Service meteorologist Joseph Pace explained.

At least two tractor-trailers blew over on the New York State Thruway in western New York. Accidents led the state police to temporarily close a 60-mile stretch of the highway between Buffalo and Rochester.

A 25-vehicle pileup on Interstate 81 south of Watertown during whiteout conditions forced the closure of the southbound lane.

Utilities worked to restore power to thousands of customers from Illinois to New York and West Virginia.