"Snowmaggedon" Leaves More Than 300,000 Without Power

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Hundreds Of Thousands Without Power After Eastern Snowstorm


Air traffic in Washington picked up after a day of cancellations, but hundreds of thousands along the Eastern seaboard remained without power after a major snowstorm wound down.

More than 300,000 people from Pennsylvania to Virginia were without electricity Sunday morning, utility companies reported. The blizzard -- referred to as "snowmageddon" by President Obama -- brought down power lines across the region, and accumulated snow continued to cause outages.

"Since the heavy, wet snow is still bringing trees down, we are still seeing new outages occur," Allegheny Power said in a statement Sunday. "Damage assessment is ongoing, but overall estimated times for the restoration of service have not been determined."

The utility company provides electricity to customers in Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia and Virginia. Nearly 135,000 of its customers had no power, the majority of them, or 92,295, reside in Pennsylvania, the company said.

More than 19,000 residents in Delaware were without power Sunday afternoon, utility companies there said. About 26.5 inches of snow fell in Wilmington, the National Weather Service said.

In New Jersey, 48,572 Atlantic City Electric customers had no electricity, the company said; 19.3 inches of snow fell in Atlantic City.

More than 117,000 people in Virginia, Washington and Maryland were without power, according to utility companies in those states.

CNN iReporter Sean Conrad was left with intermittent power after the storm. Photos of the whiteout in his Rockville, Maryland, neighborhood, show snow that blanketed the streets. Roads were recognizable only by snow-lined traffic lights that hung above.

"The streets were completely empty, with the exception of one or two people, including myself," he said. "It was extremely peaceful to be lying in the middle of streets taking pictures that are normally covered with people or buses passing by."

Rockville's snow tally was 25.5 inches, the weather service reported.

Southern Pennsylvania's Ridley Park reported 30 inches of snowfall Saturday afternoon, and the Philadelphia International Airport racked up 28.5 inches, the National Weather Service said, citing unofficial tallies. The airport was closed Saturday, but reopened Sunday and expected to operate at 60 percent capacity, spokeswoman Victoria Lupica said.

Record-breaking snowfall covered the Washington area, the weather service said. Over two days, 32.4 inches of snow dropped on Dulles International Airport, breaking a January 1996 record of 23.2 inches.

The quick-falling flakes forced Dulles to cancel all flights Saturday. Flights were also canceled at the other two main Washington-Baltimore area airports.

With the snow behind it, Dulles reopened Sunday to limited service, according to Rob Yingling, spokesman for Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. A United Airlines flight that landed at 7:15 a.m. was the first to land at Dulles, he told CNN.

Airport personnel were still removing snow from the Baltimore-Washington International Airport on Sunday, and when flights would resume remained uncertain, spokesman Jonathan Dean told CNN.

Reagan National Airport still was closed early Sunday afternoon as crews plowed snow and chipped away at 5 inches of ice that developed overnight, Washington Metropolitan Airports Authority spokeswoman Tara Hamilton said. The airport normally accommodates just under 700 flights a day, she said.

Amtrak canceled several trains Sunday after downed trees and power lines fell onto portions of its tracks, the transit company said. Dozens of Greyhound routes in the mid-Atlantic states were also canceled, the bus company said on its Web site. State officials have advised drivers to stay off the slick roads.

The storm caused two fatalities Friday, when a father and son died in a car accident in Virginia's Wythe County, state police said. Virginia state police said the accident was one of 1,700 weather-related crashes. At least 140 of the crashes resulted in injury, police said Sunday.

In addition to car wrecks during the storm, collapsing roofs also became a worry. In Washington, the roof of Joshua's Temple First Born Church collapsed Saturday because of snow, although officials said no one was injured. It was one of a couple of similar incidents, Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty said Saturday. The walls of the church had buckled as well, and authorities trudged through the knee-deep snow to put up police tape around the area.


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Sources: MSNBC, CNN, Google Maps