Until 8 p.m. includes Twin Cities area

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

By ULA ILNYTZKY and GLEN JOHNSON, Associated Press


      NEW YORK (AP) - A powerful East Coast blizzard marooned
thousands of would-be air, rail and road travelers Monday, shutting
down major airports and rail lines for a second day, stranding
buses on buried highways, and forcing New York City subway riders
to spend a cold night in unheated trains.


      Officials urged anyone who did not have to drive to stay off
roads in the region, where high winds pushed snow into deep drifts
across streets, railroads and runways. More than two feet of snow
had fallen in some areas by Monday morning.


      The New York area took the brunt of a storm that meandered
across the country over the Christmas weekend before plowing up the
East Coast. States of emergency were declared in at least six
states from the Carolinas on north. Jets got snowed in on the
tarmac or never left the gate.


      "People are exhausted. ... They want to get home," said Eric
Schorr, 22, who was trying to get from New York City to Tel Aviv on
Sunday night but ended up spending about nine hours stuck on the
tarmac at Kennedy Airport, finally ending back in the airport
around 3 a.m. His flight was rescheduled for 7 p.m.


      Similar delays have produced outrage in the past, but Schorr
said he and his fellow travelers were "as comfortable as you can
be on a plane," with the crew passing out drinks and serving
dinner.


      Authorities had to rescue hundreds of motorists across the
region, including about 100 people trying to get back to New York
from a gambling trip to Atlantic City, some of them diabetic or
elderly. As 5-foot drifts piled up on the road, state troopers took
water and food to passengers who were feeling ill.

      "Most of the people are pretty calm, but they are getting
antsy," state trooper Chris Menello, who raided his personal stash
of food for the gamblers, said early Monday as the rescues unfolded
in Monmouth County.


      Wind gusts as high as 80 mph knocked out power to thousands.
Airlines scrambled to rebook passengers on thousands of canceled
flights but said they didn't expect normal service to resume until
later in the week. Amtrak service was trickling back after being
knocked out from New York to Boston.


      Hundreds of cold, hungry and tired air passengers spent the
night at Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty airports. Officials
said they were provided blankets and cots, but some travelers were
not allowed to retrieve their checked luggage, leaving them with no
extra clothing or toiletries.


      Jason Cochran, of Manhattan, boarded his flight to London at 6
p.m. Sunday at Kennedy, but it missed its takeoff window as high
winds set in, he said. Passengers were told they would be sent to
hotels but were given only food vouchers - and then vendors began
running out of provisions.


      An airport McDonald's ran out of food, and he spent more than an
hour in line at a KFC on an hour's sleep, he said.


      "When people start to get hungry, you're going to see tempers
flare," Cochran said.

      Tall snowdrifts covered the landing gear of jets parked at the
Newark airport. A truck with a snowplow moved across the tarmac,
digging out a British Airways plane as passengers watched from the
terminal.


      In a baggage claim area, two pigeons walked among the sleeping
passengers on the floor, looking for crumbs. Dozens of people lay
on the floor of the concourse, leaning their heads against their
luggage as they waited for ticket counters to open.


      Not even New York City's subway system - usually a reliable
workhorse during a snow storm - could withstand the blizzard. Some
subway passengers were stranded for hours on trains that broke down
overnight in Queens and finally pulled into a station by midday
Monday.


      Christopher Mullen, stranded aboard one train since 1 a.m., said
conditions were frustrating.


      "No food, no water. Cold. That's the main thing that's
bothering everyone," Christopher Mullen told local cable news
channel NY1.


      At Jamaica Station on the Long Island Rail Road, the nation's
largest commuter rail system, hundreds of people dozed in train
cars frozen at the platform. Others lay like refugees at the
entrance to the train link to Kennedy and stood helpless at the
ticket office, waiting in vain for good news to flash on the
schedule screens. Hours went by without a single train leaving with
passengers.


      Buses were knocked out, cabs were little more than a myth and
those who tried walking out of the station were assailed with a
hard, frigid wind that made snowflakes sting like needles.


      "They tried, but they can't do much with this snow. It's just
not stopping," said Sharray Jones, 20, headed home to Long Island
after visiting friends.


      A blizzard warning, issued when snow is accompanied by winds
higher than 35 mph for three hours, was in effect early Monday from
Delaware to Maine. Though some areas saw only a few inches, almost
30 inches had fallen in New Jersey's Bergen County by Monday
morning, and 20 inches was reported in New York's Central Park.


      States of emergency, which generally endow government officials
with special powers to expedite storm recovery, were declared in
states including North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey,
Maine and Massachusetts.


      In coastal Scituate, Mass., several seaside homes were flooded
overnight by storm-driven waves, and two later caught fire.
Firefighters rescued occupants of the burning homes by boat, said
John Danehey, who is on the town's board of selectmen. No injuries
were reported.


      New England commuters appeared to be heeding the call to stay
off the roads. In greater Boston, highways into the city were
nearly abandoned early Monday as many workers were given the day
off and others were on vacation for the holiday week.


      In Philadelphia, cab driver Farid Senoussaoui, 33, described
navigating the slippery conditions as "like a video game."
Senoussaoui had worked overnight during the storm and said
passengers were universally grateful when he would stop to pick
them up.


      In Wells, Maine, police say a 59-year-old man died several hours
after his pickup crashed into a tree during whiteout conditions
Sunday night.


      Johnson reported from Haverhill, Mass. Contributing to this
report were Associated Press writers David Sharp in Portland,
Maine; Leon Drouin-Keith in New York; Eric Tucker in Providence,
R.I.; Kathy Matheson in Philadelphia; Stephanie Reitz in
Glastonbury, Conn.; Deepti Hajela in Fort Lee, N.J.; and Bruce
Shipkowski in Trenton, N.J.

Gallery

Winter storm could strand air passengers for days

Weather and Climate News

A powerful East Coast blizzard marooned
thousands of would-be air, rail and road travelers Monday, shutting
down major airports and rail lines for a second day, stranding
buses on buried highways, and forcing New York City subway riders
to spend a cold night in unheated trains.

Storm strands buses, planes, trains on East Coast

Go Deeper.

Like this?

News you can use in your inbox