The Northeast will be digging out today from a winter storm that, while severe, was not as bad as predictions in many areas - a fact that had truckers fuming about Connecticut's decision to ban trucks from the state's highways
because of the incoming storm.
Connecticut's ban began at 5 a.m. Monday and was lifted at noon yesterday.
The worst of the storm hit New England and the U.S./Canadian border. Whiteout conditions were reported in some areas along the border. As of late yesterday afternoon, forecasters were expecting the storm to dump more than 2 feet of snow on parts of New England. The National Weather Service issued a rare blizzard warning in Maine.
Trucks piled up at the Kennebunk rest stop along the Maine Turnpike yesterday, reported the Associated Press. Some truckers were waiting out the weather, while others decided to delay their runs because they weren't going to be allowed into Connecticut.
Connecticut Gov. John Rowland defended his decision to stop trucks at the border. "I'd rather be sitting here with a couple of angry truckers than a couple of deaths," he said.
One of those angry truckers was Ken Aparicio of Starke, Fla., who told the Associated Press he lost about $1,200 in the two days he had been stuck at a truckstop on I-95.