Nor\'easter returns thousands to the dark

A nor\'easter blasted the U.S. Northeast with snow and hurricane-like winds that put people back in the dark not long after they\'d just gotten their lights back. The freezing storm, which spread from the New York area through Cape Cod, Mass., quickly brought down power lines and halted repair-crew work, officials said. The nor\'easter -- which produced coastal flooding, coastal erosion and near-blizzard conditions in some places -- knocked out power for more than 13,000 New York City customers, raising the number of customers without power to more than 77,000 from about 64,000 early Wednesday, utility Consolidated Edison said. Nearly 200,000 customers were without power on Long Island, up from 184,000 early Wednesday, the Long Island Power Authority said. The number of Public Service Electric and Gas customers in New Jersey jumped to nearly 250,000 from 151,000 Wednesday. Jersey Central Power and Light reported more than 220,000 customers without electricity. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie warned before the storm many people would be without power soon. \"I can see us actually moving backwards,\" he said on Long Beach Island, a barrier island along New Jersey\'s Atlantic coast that suffered some of the heaviest damage from Superstorm Sandy last week. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the difference between Sandy and the new storm \"is the barriers of sand or rock that were there before are not there.\" The city received several inches of heavy, wet snow Wednesday and Thursday. Suburban areas immediately north of the city reported more than 6 inches. Ten inches fell in Wallingford, Conn., near New Haven. Winds in Nantucket, Mass., gusted to 60 mph, AccuWeather said Thursday.