Snow adds to Sandy victimsā?? misery

WEST CALDWELL, N.J. - The nor'easter that swept through the Northeast on Wednesday night dumped record snow, hampered efforts to recover from Superstorm Sandy and has been linked to at least one death.

From New Jersey to New York, roads, trees and homes were blanketed in overnight snow and another 100,000 households lost power, adding to the misery in a region still grappling with widespread storm damage.

Meanwhile on Thursday New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and officials on Long Island have decided to start rationing gasoline.

Gasoline will be available to drivers with license plate numbers ending in an odd number starting Friday morning.

Drivers with plate numbers ending in an even number can gas up on Saturday.

Bloomberg said Thursday that only 25 percent of the city's gas stations are open. He estimated the tight gas supplies could last another couple of weeks.

The bad weather and white-out conditions Wednesday night prompted major airlines to cancel hundreds of flights, most in the New York area, although airports in Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere are affected, according to flight tracking service FlightAware.

Parts of Connecticut saw more than a foot of snow overnight -- a record -- while New Jersey and New York saw up to 9 inches in some cities.

Late Wednesday, a man was killed in a fatal crash on a highway in Burlington, N.J., according to State Police Sgt. Adam Grossman.

Grossman said there were no reports of other injuries Thursday or of backups on the highways, which were cleared of overnight snow accumulation that had led to multiple spin-outs, including a New Jersey transit bus that was marooned in a median of the Garden State Parkway.

The state and the residents are still trying to clean up and get back to normal life, Grossman said.

The snow and frigid temperatures intensified suffering in hard-hit Sandy towns, including Little Egg Harbor, N.J., where mountains of debris stood frozen in front of storm-damaged homes.

Elsewhere, other storm victims were relocated from school shelters as officials prepared to resume classes, moving evacuees from Monmouth University's massive 1,000-bed shelter a few miles north to Monmouth Park racetrack in Oceanport.

The local hotels are all full, and other temporary housing on a nearby barrier island was destroyed by Sandy.

Snowstorms are unusual but not unheard of in New Jersey at this time of year -- last year a Halloween nor'easter dumped 19 inches of snow on one North Jersey town.