(CNN) — Weary mid-Atlantic residents are trying to get back on their feet after a one-two punch of winter storms that dropped 55 inches of snow on parts of the region.
In the aftermath of what some are calling “snowmageddon,” hundreds of thousands of people were without power, the roofs of some buildings had collapsed from the weight of the snow, and transportation departments were still trying to clean snowy, icy streets.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Baltimore County, Maryland, highway chief Tim Burgess told CNN affiliate WBAL. It could take two weeks to return traffic to normal, he said.
“I’m just not sure we’re physically capable of getting around to some of the side streets,” said Burgess, who told WBAL he’s sought help from contractors as far away as Alabama, Georgia and Missouri.
“We’re not turning anybody down at this point,” he said.
The Potomac Electric Power Co., which serves Washington and Maryland, had 1,900 customers without power, said PEPCO spokesman Bob Hainey.
Hainey said most of the outages were from this week’s storm, although some might be from last weekend’s heavy snowfall. The utility hopes to get everybody’s service restored by Friday, as long as roads are clear enough for crews to get through.
“We’re cautiously optimistic,” Hainey said. “Our goal is to get everyone back on as soon as possible.”
Some homeowners’ snow blowers couldn’t handle the heavy, wet snow in hard-hit eastern Pennsylvania, CNN affiliate WFMZ reported.
“It gets real heavy. Snow won’t fly as far as it’s supposed to,” a tired and frustrated Adam Flowers of Nazareth, Pennsylvania, told WFMZ. “It gets caught up in the plows, and they keep clogging up.”
In Washington, more than 250,000 federal workers were told to stay home from work for a fourth day, and local government offices and public schools were closed.
But in New York, children went back to school after a three-day snow holiday.
Dulles International Airport was open Thursday after closing to flights Wednesday afternoon. Mark Treadway of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said Reagan National Airport remained closed Thursday, but officials will decide later this morning whether the airport can reopen in the afternoon.
More than 1,000 flights were canceled, Washington airport officials said.
Amtrak was still providing limited service for Washington, New York and Boston, Massachusetts, on Thursday, but most passenger rail service south of Washington was canceled.
This winter is already the snowiest on record for Washington and its suburbs, as well as Baltimore, Maryland, and Wilmington, Delaware, the National Weather Service said. And it’s on track to set records in other cities, including Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Atlantic City, New Jersey.
The 55 inches of snow that have accumulated in the nation’s capital during the past two storms proved too much for some buildings. Snow was blamed for the collapse of at least 22 roofs in Washington.
In central Pennsylvania, Interstate 80 near Clearfield was shut down Wednesday after two traffic pileups — one involving 17 cars and the other involving seven cars, said Rich Kirkpatrick of the state’s Department of Transportation.
One person died and another was seriously injured, police said.
Further South, forecasters predict up to 8 inches of snow across a swath of the Southeast that hasn’t seen more than an inch of snow in at least a decade, including parts of Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi. Public officials are reacting with a mix of trepidation and helplessness.
“The storm that will move across the Deep South over the next couple of days will bring 3 to 6 inches of snow to Jackson, Mississippi, up to 2 inches to Biloxi, Mississippi, and 2 to 4 inches of snow in Mobile,” said CNN meteorologist Sean Morris. “These are cities that rarely see a flake all winter long.”
With most of the accumulation expected overnight, school and workplaces across the region are bracing for closures tomorrow
