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Blizzard knocks out power to 250K along East Coast

A monstrous winter storm affecting more than 80 million Americans along the East Coast left hundreds of thousands without power Saturday. 

A monstrous winter storm affecting more than 80 million Americans along the East Coast left hundreds of thousands without power Saturday. 

The Associated Press reported 150,000 homes and businesses were without power in North Carolina because of ice accumulation and strong winds. The largest group of cases was south of Raleigh. 

The state of New Jersey was also hard hit with more than 90,000 residents left in the dark at one point Saturday. High winds and blizzard conditions generated by the massive storm were bringing down power lines. 

The outages in New Jersey were primarily along the coastline, which was also being impacting by record storm surge causing flooding in the streets. Utility companies reported major outages in Ocean County to the north and Atlantic City. 

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie declared a state of emergency Friday night. Gov. Andrew Cuomo in New York did the same.

In Gaithersburg, a Maryland suburb of Washington, D.C., a partial roof collapse left residents of a condominium complex without power or gas, according to WUSA-TV. The fire department urged residents to remain sheltered in their homes.  

Ice accumulation in Kentucky and the Carolinas also threatened to cut power because of downed lines. Conditions were so severe they could hamper repair efforts until the storm moves away from the East Coast on Sunday.

At its worst Saturday, the Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. areas had between 2,000 and 3,000 homes without service. 

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