Weather improves,but thousands stranded across snow-hit in US(pic) ~ World Collection

WASHINGTON: Air and rail traffic was limping back to normalcy in eastern USA after a monster blizzard left thousands of holiday travellers, including Indian Americans, stranded at airports and broke off power supplies across towns and cities.
Weather showed a remarkable improvement today in the six worst affected states that have been all but paralysed under a shroud of icy white.
However, fresh reports said many of the travelers stranded at airports are unlikely to reach home before the yearend in view of the long delays.
More than 5,000 flights were cancelled at airports across the US as more than half of the country was covered with heavy snow over the weekend with some cities receiving even 30 inches of snow.
Governors declared states of emergency in Virginia, Maryland and Massachusetts ahead of the approaching storm. The mayors of Philadelphia, Boston, Providence and Portland, Maine, also called snow emergencies.
This was was New York's sixth worst storm since 1869. "This storm was one of the most challenging storms we've had in a decade or two," said Thomas Bosco, general manager of LaGuardia, told the CNN.
"We had 25 inches several years ago, but the snow stayed in place. Today the snow piles are drifting," he said.
Travel plans of a large number of Indian-Americans, who wished to go back home during the holiday season, were affected as many flights had been cancelled from key airport hubs like New York and Newark.
"Business class, first class, everyone was on the floor all night," Mumbai-bound Queens resident Natalie Mohanty told The Wall Street Journal.
After she spent the night on the floor at JFK airport, her airline finally bused her to a room at the Holiday Inn in Maspeth in New York.
"People are exhausted. They want to get home," Eric Schorr, marooned at New York's Kennedy Airport since Sunday afternoon, told The Washington Post.
Besides the JFK, other airports in the region too were hit by the blizzard - Newark, Buffalo, Boston and Philadelphia.
More than 1,700 overseas travelers, including many India-bound, were stranded at the Chicago airport this evening.
Authorities said the airport is making special arrangements to help passengers rushing to make connections avoid delays.
Yesterday, more than 500 flight were cancelled in and out of Newark Liberty International Airport, which flies several flights a day to various Indian cities.

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