A thick blanket of snow covered the US Northeast on Thursday, as the fifth major storm of the winter set snowfall records, clogged Washington highways with abandoned cars and forced airport closures.
Snow fell from Virginia to Maine on Wednesday night and into Thursday morning, putting additional strain on cities and states already faced with overwhelming budget deficits. Almost 630,000 homes and businesses in the region lost power, but utilities said they hoped to restore electricity to most in the next two days.
The latest storm in an unusually snowy winter even trapped President Barack Obama who was among thousands of motorists on snow-blocked roadways at the height of the storm on Wednesday. Washington drivers reported 45-minute commutes turned into 10-hour nightmares when major thoroughfares became gridlocked with hundreds of abandoned cars.
The New York area's John F. Kennedy and Newark airports were closed for 10 hours and LaGuardia was also impacted. Officials cancelled 2,142 flights on Wednesday and Thursday.
After the snow grounded Obama's helicopter, his ground convoy could only inch its way along from Andrews Air Force Base in Virginia to the White House. Obama had been on a one-day trip to Wisconsin to sell his State of the Union speech, which he delivered to Congress on Tuesday.
His motorcade crawled through vehicles stuck in the snow and then got caught in snarled rush-hour traffic on the approach to the capital. At times his SUV and his protective vehicle escort became separated from the main body of the convoy, which included Obama's personal ambulance.
In Philadelphia, where 300 flights were cancelled, the storm closed courts and public schools, knocked out power some 15,000 households, and halted service on most city bus routes. Nine passengers spent part of the night on a bus that got stuck in the snow, officials said.
Boston's Logan Airport saw 200 cancellations, and in the suburb of Lynn a partial roof collapse trapped two people in a vehicle parked inside a building, officials said. Both people were taken to hospital.
A CHALLENGE FOR LOCAL BUDGETS
New York has now recorded its snowiest January on record after 19 inches (48 cm) fell on the city overnight, twice the amount forecast and just short of the 20 inches (51 cm) that paralysed the city on December 26-27 and created a political crisis for Mayor Michael Bloomberg because of a botched cleanup.
New York City has exhausted its snow budget of USD$38 million, forcing the city to draw money from its general fund, a spokesman said. Smaller cities stand to feel the pinch even more.
Amtrak suspended service between New York and Boston. New York City buses, commuter trains and subways all experienced delays, though the streets were noticeably clearer this time than after the December 27 blizzard.
"We learn," Bloomberg told a City Hall news conference on Thursday. "We asked the questions of what didn't work last time and whether there's anything we could do differently... Our expectation is that by tomorrow morning's rush hour all of the city streets and roadways will have been ploughed."