By Chris Dolmetsch Dec. 12 (Bloomberg) -- An ice storm that moved through the eastern U.S. overnight knocked down trees and wires from southern New York to Maine, cutting power to about 1.25 million customers and closing roads, schools and train lines. The National Weather Service issued winter storm warnings from southwestern Pennsylvania to northern Maine as the low- pressure system dumped more than 7 inches (18 centimeters) of snow and coated tree limbs, streets and wires with as much as an inch of ice. The governors of Massachusetts and New Hampshire declared states of emergency after about 700,000 homes and businesses lost power. In Maine, Governor John Baldacci ordered state government closed for the day. At the Miss Worcester Diner in Worcester, Massachusetts, customers were coming in with stories of downed limbs and power failures, with some saying they’d been told they may not have electricity until the end of the weekend. Owner Kim Kniskern, 41, said she had to drive under a fallen tree to get to work. “My husband was behind me in his truck and he couldn’t fit under the tree, so he had to go another way,” she said. Entergy Corp. said it slowed its Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor to 82 percent of capacity at the request of the power grid operator after “massive power outages” threatened the grid’s stability. The plant is located 103 miles (166 kilometers) northwest of Boston. Lines Down “There’s massive power outages, ice on lines, trees on lines,” Entergy spokesman Larry Smith said. “We’re just riding out the ice storm.” About 500,000 National Grid Plc customers were without electricity in New England and New York, including about 290,000 in central and eastern Massachusetts, according to the company’s Web site. “It’s clear that we will be at this in New England and New York for at least several days,” National Grid spokesman Steve Brady said in a telephone interview. “We’ve got a fair amount of physical damage to the network, trees and tree limbs and that sort of thing. We’re going to have an army out there.” Amtrak canceled service through the early afternoon on its Empire Line between New York City and the state capital of Albany because of downed trees and wires. It also halted trains on its Downeaster line between Boston and Portland, Maine, and its Maple Leaf line between New York City and Toronto, spokeswoman Karina Romero said in a telephone interview. Storm Moving Out “It’s turned from ice to rain so we’re hoping that will help things,” Romero said. “The good news is the storm seems to be moving.” The American Red Cross is opening shelters throughout the Northeast to help people affected by the storm, including 11 in New Hampshire and six in upstate New York. The Granite chapter in Concord, New Hampshire, opened 12 shelters statewide after being “inundated” with calls for aid, spokeswoman Becky Field said. “We definitely have had a lot of calls,” Field said. “Although the weather here in Concord is letting up quite a bit, a lot of people don’t have power.” To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Dolmetsch in New York at cdolmetsch@bloomberg.net.

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