US shakes off blizzard but still in grip of travel misery

THE US north-east began yesterday to shake off the grip of one of the biggest blizzards in years, but beleaguered travellers faced another day of headaches in New York airports.

After one last night of ferocious winds, the storm had moved fully out of New York by early yesterday. The system, packing enormous snowfalls and gale force winds, churned up through Maine and into Canada, leaving a cold trail as far south down the east coast as the Carolinas.

The lifting of the siege meant that New York, the hardest hit area in the blizzard beginning Sunday, could finally start getting back to normal. Snow ploughs and salt spreaders were hard at work before dawn in Manhattan, battling through knee-high snow in many streets.

It was the sixth heaviest snowfall on record for New York city and the howling winds made it almost impossible to clear for the first night, shutting down the city on Monday, just when millions were getting back to work after their Christmas break.

Officials expected it would take several days to get the city and the all-important transport hubs back fully on track.

After spending a full day shut down, the three major airports of John F Kennedy International, La Guardia and Newark International in New Jersey reopened late Monday.

More than 5,000 flights were cancelled during the freeze and that backlog meant that even passengers able to reach the airport would still face delays.

Continental said operations in New York and Newark remained disrupted. “On December 28, we will attempt to resume flights as the operation permits. Some arrivals will be postponed in the morning and early afternoon hours to assist with the operation,” it said.

JetBlue, which cancelled flights out of New York or Boston until Tuesday echoed other airlines, saying affected passengers would be able to rebook without charge until January 14.

Meanwhile, the Port Authority also warned that La Guardia Airport faced “extensive cancellations and delays”.

Conditions remained gruelling for ground commuters, with bus, subway and train lines snarled up.

Passengers could only hope for better service than on Monday, when many found themselves stuck at wind-blasted bus stops without buses and in stricken subway cars as they tried to get to work or home.

The rescue services were sometimes not much better off: police cars, ambulances and trucks sent to tow the many stranded buses often wound up stuck in the same snow and ice.

Officials in eastern Canada said the blizzard was already dumping heavy amounts of snow and forcing the cancellation of flights from Fredericton and Moncton in New Brunswick. Some 40,000 homes lost electricity in the region.

The weather service said gale-force winds will reduce visibility to near zero in some areas.