‘Bomb Cyclone’ Livewire: Ice Floats in Flooded Boston, State of Emergency New York, Iguanas Falls from Trees

A bitter winter storm is causing havoc on the east coast of the United States, bringing freezing temperatures, snowfall, and flooding to areas from Florida to Maine.

NBC 6 reports “It’s so cold in Florida that iguanas are falling from their perches in suburban trees.” The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is also working to rescue sea turtles “found floating listlessly on the water or near shore” due to low temperatures.

The Associated Press reports the winter storm has resulted in fatalities is several states so far, with four “killed in North and South Carolina after their vehicles ran off snow-covered roads” and a death near Philadelphia after “a car could not stop at the bottom of a steep, snow-covered hill and slammed into a commuter train.”

The Boston Globe reports that in addition to freezing temperatures and snow in Massachusetts, a high tide flooded Boston with freezing sea water, as “ice chunks floated down Atlantic Avenue in downtown Boston, a dumpster bobbed along in the surf on a street in the city’s Seaport, and tides erupted into South Shore neighborhoods.”

“We had a very high astronomical tide to begin with, and we’re looking basically at a three-foot storm surge on top of that,” meteorologist Hayden Frank told the New York Times. “To get significant coastal flooding, you need to have the strongest winds at exactly the time of high tide, and that’s kind of what happened today.”

CNBC reports that experts do not expect the bomb cyclone to create the same type of problems for the US power grid as 2014’s “polar vortex” but that “natural gas pipeline constraints in the Northeast create challenges for the grid operator and will potentially raise costs for ratepayers.”

AccuWeather reports mounting problems in the northeast as power outages increase in New England and “blizzard conditions have forced airport closures in New York City.”

Governor Andrew Cuomo has declared a state of emergency for New York, and amNewYork reports that New York City’s subway system is seeing snow swept into tunnels and onto platforms.