At least 30 people are dead following the historic blizzard that slammed the Mid-Atlantic to the North East coast.
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“A lot of teachers are taking the train instead of driving”, said Wanda Morales, director of operations at the school, as she stood outside while maintenance workers spread salt and parents dropped off their children.
Washington, DC had reportedly not witnessed a snow storm of such intensity in over a 100 years, with the capital suddenly reeling under the white blanket.
“I’ve sat in my house too much already”, he said.
“I expect our town to be under considerable water”, Pellegrini said. “It’s only seven miles”. At least 31 people have died as a result of the storm; the deaths occurred in vehicle accidents, from carbon monoxide poisoning, and from heart attacks while shoveling snow.
More than 7,100 airline flights were canceled across the country on Friday and Saturday, according to flight tracking website FlightAware.com. New York City’s expected total was upped Friday to a foot or more.
Major airlines also cancelled hundreds of flights for Monday. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority says the goal is to bring back service for the Monday morning commute. The Illinois Democrat said he’s been through this before.
“I love the snow”, said her mother Amy, who works in marketing.
Airports near New York City – Newark, La Guardia, and J.F.K. – were open Sunday, but 982 outbound and 916 inbound flights at those airports were canceled. “We’re going to make a mountain”, she said. “It’s a ripple effect”.
Amtrak operated a reduced number of passenger trains on all its routes, serving many people who couldn’t get around otherwise, spokesman Marc Magliari said. In its aftermath, crews raced all day Sunday to clear streets and sidewalks devoid of their usual bustle.
In Washington, 22.2 inches of snow were recorded, with 26.8 inches recorded in New York City – just 0.1 inches short of the 2006 record.
Even a massive snowball fight in Washington’s Dupont Circle, which 3,000 people said on Facebook they would attend, was postponed until Sunday due to the storm’s ferocity. Many schools were closed Monday because crews were still clearing local roads. The New York Mayor Bill de Blasio warned that this might be the worst snowstorm in history. Some didn’t have a choice. Douglas Fink felt awful about that: “I was trying to protect them, but they probably would have been better off just standing outside”.
Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno and state Environmental Protection Department Commissioner Bob Martin toured several coastal sites on Monday to get a first-hand look at the erosion and other damage the weekend storm caused. Schools from Washington to the Jersey Shore gave students Monday off.
The storm is forecast to move offshore near southern New England early this week.
New Jersey Transit said it was running most normal weekday service Monday, though officials said bus service could be affected by snow removal on roads.
New Jersey Transit was restoring service, including Light Rail lines and commuter trains.
The financial impact of the storm will be in the millions of dollars according to experts.
Overall snowfall of 68 centimetres in Central Park made it New York’s second biggest winter storm since records began in 1869, and Saturday’s 67.6 centimetres made for a single-day record in the city.
The travel ban that barred non-emergency vehicles from the roads of New York City was lifted on Sunday morning.
Washington, which has a poor track record in dealing with snow, seemed unready for a return to its Monday routine after its largest snowstorm in decades, with major airports, public buses and subways completely shut down all Sunday.
Measurements taken at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport show 29.2 inches of snow accumulation there, which is a record, reports CNN. An official total of 56.9 centimetres landed at the National Zoo, for example.
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Joining the fun, Jeffrey Perez got more than half a million views of his own online video, after climbing into a panda suit and rolling around in the snow outside his home in Millersville, Maryland.
