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Millions Without Power - Three Die - When Winter Storms Hits

Last updated on Monday, October 31, 2011

(UNDATED) (AP) - Millions of people from Maine to Maryland were without power as an unseasonably early storm dumped heavy, wet snow over the weekend on the region.

The snow was due to stop falling in New England late Sunday, but it could be days before many of the more than 3 million without electricity see it restored, officials warned. The storm smashed record snowfall totals for October. At least three deaths were blamed on the weather, and states of emergency were declared in New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and parts of New York.

Snowfall totals topped 27 inches in Plainfield, Massachusetts, and nearby Windsor had gotten 26 inches by early Sunday.

Two of the airports serving New York City, Newark Liberty and Kennedy, had hours-long delays Saturday, as did Philadelphia's airport. Commuter trains in Connecticut and New York were delayed or suspended because of downed trees and signal problems. Amtrak suspended service between Philadelphia and Harrisburg, Pa., and one train from Chicago to Boston got stuck overnight in Palmer, Mass. The 48 passengers had food and heat, a spokeswoman said, and were taken by bus Sunday to their destinations.

In southeastern Pennsylvania, an 84-year-old man was killed when a snow-laden tree fell on his home while he was napping in his recliner.

In Connecticut, the governor said one person died in a Colchester traffic accident that he blamed on slippery conditions.

And a 20-year-old man in Springfield, Mass., stopped when he saw police and firefighters examining downed wires and stepped in the wrong place and was electrocuted.

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