BUFFALO, N.Y. – Hoods were up and heads were down as a storm that plagued the Midwest for days plodded eastward today with knifing winds and blowing snow, stranding dozens of motorists on a southern Ontario highway and giving much of the northeastern U.S. its first real taste of winter.
The storm brought bone-chilling cold, and more snow was expected or already falling Tuesday in parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. The frigid air stretched into the deep South, where hard freeze warnings were in effect overnight in much of Florida. Hundreds of schools were closed or opening late.
Nearly 180 of the estimated 300 people trapped in their vehicles on a highway near Sarnia, Ontario, about 65 miles northeast of Detroit, had been rescued by buses and military helicopters, Canadian officials said. Ontario Community Safety Minister Jim Bradley said he had no reports of deaths or injuries among the stranded.
Colin Steward spent 25 hours stuck in his car, napping, phoning relatives and updating Facebook from his BlackBerry, the 50-year-old said Tuesday in a phone interview from his car.
In New York, state officials closed sections of two major roadways outside Rochester for about two hours yesterday afternoon after accidents on snowy roads.
More than ten inches of new snow had fallen at the Rochester airport by morning, but flights were taking off and landing on schedule. (AP)
