East Digs Out From Blizzard; Travelers Struggle Home

The East Coast dug out and travelers struggled to get home from the holiday today after a monster snowstorm walloped the region, disrupting transportation and stranding people in planes, trains and automobiles, not to mention in buses.

Though the worst of the storm was over by late this morning, a swath of heavy snow and slick, sometimes impassable roads made flying, driving and even taking the train difficult if not impossible. More than 7,000 flights were canceled nationwide, The Associated Press reported.

Blizzard warnings were in effect from the Carolinas to New England through early today. Snow emergencies were declared in New York, Boston and Philadelphia where residents were urged to stay off the roads.

Snow that began falling early Sunday dumped 20 inches on New York's Central Park. It turned into a blizzard, shutting down airports, disrupting train and subway service and closing many public schools along the Atlantic seaboard.

It also kept people away from the malls on Sunday, one of the biggest shopping days of the year, Bloomberg News reported.

The snowstorm began on Saturday in Georgia and South Carolina, which had their first white Christmas in over a century. Washington, D.C., somehow escaped the heavy storms that pummeled much of the rest of the region.

Governors declared states of emergency in Massachusetts, Virginia and Maryland on Sunday to mobilize crews and expedite any funding needed for storm-related damage.

Amtrak and the Long Island Railroad briefly suspended service on some of their routes but were beginning to move again this afternoon.

The three major New York-area airports were still closed this morning, but all were scheduled to re-open later today. Still, thousands of stranded air passengers could remain stuck for days as airlines try to rebook passengers during one of the busiest times of the year.

The logjams at the airports affected much of the rest of the country, too, canceling thousands of flights. At least 150 flights were canceled at Chicago's O'Hare and Midway airports this morning, on top of the 150 canceled Sunday.

Some 500 people, most of whom were coming back from Kennedy International Airport late Sunday, were stuck for at least eight hours on an A train bound for Manhattan early this morning.

A stranded passenger on the A train jokingly wrote on Twitter, "Son!!! I wanna go home!!! Dudes on the train talking about cannibalism lol I want out!!!"

"No heat. No nothing. We're not going nowhere," one New York subway passenger told WABC-TV through a crack in the iced doors. "Nine hours on one damn train with no heat."

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Eric Schorr, a passenger aboard El Al Flight 002 from New York to Tel Aviv, told CNN that the plane was scheduled to leave JFK at 6 p.m. Sunday. But six hours later, the plane was still on the tarmac.

"What happened was they boarded us, de-iced us, taxied us. ... We were ready to take off, but JFK closed when we were finally able to take off," Schorr said early today after he and other passengers finally deplaned.

Jason Cochran, who was supposed to fly from JFK to London's Heathrow Airport on Sunday night, told CNN he and his fellow passengers were also stuck for several hours on the tarmac before they were allowed off.

Cochran said he ended up sleeping between a vending machine and a vacuum cleaner at a JFK terminal.

State troopers had to bring food and water to some diabetics who were among about 50 passengers marooned on two buses stuck overnight on New Jersey's Garden State Parkway, The Associated Press reported.

Some people, especially those who didn't have to get anywhere today, decided to enjoy being snowbound.

Former "Good Morning America" anchor Lisa McRee's Facebook status detailed her family's action plan for coping with the storm at their home in Camden, Maine:

"Blizzard Supplies: 2 lanterns, a pile of firewood, a vat of chili, homemade challah, screeners of Black Swan and Inception and 2 one-pound bags of M&M pretzel poppers..Bring it Mother Nature, Bring IT!!!"

Twitter feeds indicated that lots of people shut in because of the storm were finding consolation by playing Scrabble on their iPads.

Even football was put on hold, at least for a couple of days.

The NFL postponed a game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Philadelphia Eagles -- originally scheduled for Sunday night -- and said it is now scheduled for 8:20 p.m. Tuesday.

"It was dangerous for the players, dangerous for the fans," said Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter. "People still have to get out of the parking lot (and get in) their cars."

But the storm brought less snow than expected to Philadelphia, and Gov. Ed Rendell thought otherwise:

"It's an absolute joke," he told Fox News. "I was looking forward to this. It would have been a real experience. This is what football is all about. We're becoming a nation of wussies."