Storm Jonas hits US East coast

At least 28 deaths were blamed on the weather, first in vehicle crashes, and then while shoveling snow or breathing carbon monoxide.

Washington recorded 22.4 inches at the National Zoo. The official total for Washington Dulles International Airport came in at 17.8 inches, but there have been indications that measurement may be low. The 26.6 inches that fell on Saturday, however, was the city’s record for a single day.

The snowfall totals were striking, setting records in some jurisdictions.

Snow depth reports abounded, with the deepest recorded at Glengary, West Virginia, at 42 inches (107 centimeters).

The last flakes fell just before midnight Saturday, but crews raced the clock Sunday to clear streets and sidewalks devoid of their usual bustle. From Virginia to NY, sustained winds topped 30 miles per hour and gusted to around 50 miles per hour.

In Kentucky, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, drivers were marooned for hours on snow-choked highways.

“We survived and then some, it is fair to say”, New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) said during a morning news conference. Vice President of Administration and Finance Narvel Weese said the Morgantown campus and surrounding area remained covered by up to 2 feet of snow.

“It is crucial for people to stay off the streets”.

It was just right for a huge snowball fight in Baltimore, where more than 600 people responded to organizer Aaron Brazell’s invite on Facebook.

“We want to have tomorrow to continue to keep cars off the road so that we can clear those major arteries and also clear the places where many people who come to our downtown would normally park”.

Road accidents Friday night caused a seven-mile backup involving around 500 vehicles on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, a state police spokeswoman said.

But one day of sunshine wasn’t enough to clear many roads.

– USA federal government offices in the Washington area will be closed on Monday, as will state government offices in Maryland and Virginia.

With the storm finally tapering off overnight, officials in NY lifted a travel ban at 7:00 am Sunday (12;00 GMT), restoring access to roads throughout the city and in Long Island and New Jersey.

Broadway reopened after going dark at the last minute during the snowstorm, but museums remained closed in Washington, and the US House of Representatives postponed votes until February, citing the storm’s impact on travel.

Major public services have already been shut down at Washington including The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which includes the second-busiest USA subway system. And 8,569 flights were canceled on Saturday and Sunday, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware.com. Along with clearing snow and ice from facilities and equipment, the operators of airlines, train and transit systems had to figure out how to get snowbound employees to work.

Amtrak operated a reduced number of passenger trains on all its routes, serving many people who could not get around otherwise, spokesman Marc Magliari said. Cars parked in neighborhoods were encased in snow, some of it pushed from the streets by plows.

The National Weather Service has issued a warning for the New Jersey coast until noon Sunday.

“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. A beloved Capitol policeman joined a grim list of people suffering heart attacks while shoveling snow.

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said her city had experienced a “historic snow event”.

A man who tried to shovel out his auto in Muhlenberg Township, Pa., met a similar fate after a snowplow buried him inside. And an elderly couple in Greenville, S.C., was poisoned by the generator in their garage after losing power.

“They all turned on me, as teenagers will do”, she said.

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Millions of Americans dug out Sunday from a mammoth storm, including dozens in Chinatown in Manhattan.