WASHINGTON - A second major snow storm in less than a week was blowing Tuesday toward the Washington area, where plows still hadn't touched some roads, utility workers were struggling to restore power and shovels were in short supply.
Airlines that shut down flights to Washington over the weekend warned that more would be cancelled and that travellers who didn't depart by Tuesday night were likely out of luck.
Some spots, including parts of Maryland, had nearly 3 feet (a meter) of snow from the earlier storm. One scientist said if all that fell on the East Coast were melted, it would fill 12 million Olympic swimming pools or 30,000 Empire State buildings. Philadelphia and Washington each need about nine more inches to give the cities their snowiest winters since 1884, the first year records were kept.
The storm that began Friday closed schools, and some 230,000 federal workers in Washington had Monday and Tuesday off. Power was still out for tens of thousands of homes and businesses, and utilities said deep snow was hindering some crews trying to fix damaged power lines before the next storm hits.
The snowbound U.S. Senate met only for a few minutes Monday, and the House called off floor votes on Tuesday.
Majority Leader Harry Reid, wearing a V-neck sweater over his usual shirt and tie, said it was difficult to make it to work on snow-clogged streets and the subway system was running on a limited basis.
The storm hit the Midwest early Tuesday, closing schools and greeting commuters with slick, slushy roads from Indianapolis to Chicago. Powerful wind and snow were expected to crawl toward the East Coast by the afternoon, and could leave as much as 20 inches (50 centimetres) of new snow in Washington and 18 inches (45 centimetres) near Philadelphia by Wednesday night.