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AAP News Vol. 14 No. 3 March 1998, p. 16 © 1998 American Academy of Pediatrics
Harsh winter weather is nothing new to pediatricians in New England and eastern Canada, but even the hardiest Northerners conceded the 1998 ice storms really knocked them off their feet, with weeks of widespread power outages and the largest wave of carbon monoxide poisonings on record. It all started Wednesday night, Jan. 7, with a gentle rain. During the next three days, several inches of ice glazed everything in sight, from New York to Maine and into Canada. Millions of people lost electric power, many for 14 days or more a long time to go without heat, light, running water, refrigeration, cooked food, TV, phone or radio. Hundreds of emergency shelters opened in schools and churches to accommodate the throng of cold, hungry residents.
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