NEW YORK/WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Washington shut down U.S. federal government offices today, while New York prepared for a normal workday following the worst snowstorm in decades to ravage the U.S. East Coast, as residents of both cities frolicked in the freak snowfall.
Midtown Manhattan came back to life on a bright and sunny yesterday as residents and tourists rejoiced in the warming sunlight, digging out buried cars, heading to Broadway shows and cavorting in massive drifts left by New York City’s second-biggest snowstorm in history.
In Washington, where a traffic ban was still in effect, the recovery got off to a slower start, with the entire transit system closed through yesterday. The Office of Personnel Management said federal government offices in the Washington area will be closed today, along with local government offices and schools.
Even so, many people were out in the street. Some skied and snowboarded down the steps of the Lincoln Memorial until security officials moved them on.
The entire region seemed to breathe a sigh of relief after the historic storm that left at least 20 dead in several states.
“For us, snow is like a normal winter,” said Viola Rogacka, 21, a fashion model from Poland, walking with a friend through New York’s Times Square. “It’s how it should look like.”
Theater shows reopened on Broadway after the blizzard forced them to go dark on Saturday on the recommendation of New York Mayor Bill de Blasio.
“We still have some areas that we have to do a lot more work on. But we’ve come through it pretty well,” de Blasio said on ABC’s “This Week.” “I think tomorrow is going to be pretty good. We think we’ll be broadly up and running again at the city tomorrow.”
The blizzard was the second-biggest snowstorm in New York City history, with 26.8 inches (68 cm) of snow in Central Park by midnight on Saturday, just shy of the record 26.9 inches (68.3 cm) set in 2006, the National Weather Service said.
Thirteen people were killed in weather-related car crashes in Arkansas, North Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia on Saturday. One person died in Maryland and three in New York while shoveling snow. Two died of hypothermia in Virginia, and one from carbon monoxide poisoning in Pennsylvania, officials said.
Reinsurer Munich Re said it was too early to estimate losses from the storm.
