The US Northeast began digging out from a massive snowstorm that buried cities from Washington to Boston under as much as two feet of snow, creating travel chaos and hampering Christmas shopping.
Nearly two feet of snow piled up in the Baltimore-Washington area yesterday in the largest snowstorm to hit the region since February 2003, while New York City saw totals of up to a foot before the monster storm churned into New England.
Boston, Cape Cod and southeastern Massachusetts areas saw as much as two feet of snow before the storm moved out to sea. Areas of eastern Long Island had blizzard-like conditions and nearly two feet of precipitation.
The storm gave Washington its snowiest December on record,
Federal government agencies will be closed Monday as the US capital continues to emerge from the snow.
Washington-area airports were hit with significant delays and cancellations, as were New York's three metropolitan airports, which remained opened. Airlines cancelled hundreds of flights, with few planes either arriving or departing.
Washington's Reagan National airport shut down on Saturday and reopened about midday today.
The storm also took a bite out of retail sales on one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year as Christmas looms.
Washington closed above-ground operations of its subway and stopped all bus services by early afternoon Saturday because streets were rapidly becoming impassable.
New York subways remained running and its public schools were expected to be open on Monday. Long Island Rail Road service was extremely limited on Sunday, a spokesman said.
Amtrak trains experienced cancellations, a reduced schedule and delays, with seats at a premium as holiday travellers sought alternatives when air travel was severely disrupted.
Motorists across the region were urged to stay off treacherous roads and several main arteries were closed. In Washington, drivers who ventured out often had to abandon their cars due to deep snow on the streets.
