Blizzard strikes US

A massive winter storm clobbered a huge swath of the eastern United States on Saturday, pounding cities from Washington to New York with snow and stranding hundreds of motorists from Kentucky to Pennsylvania on icy interstates.
Up to 85 million people are in the storm’s path. Officials in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast-much of which was under blizzard warnings-said Saturday morning that they’ve largely been able to avoid major problems so far. But the storm was far from done.
“We haven’t turned the corner at all,” Baltimore emergency management director Robert Maloney told CNN. “I wouldn’t say we’re even halfway there yet.”
Motorists have been stranded for hours along a roughly five-mile westbound stretch of the Pennsylvania Turnpike-from Breezewood to New Stanton, State Police Capt. Brian Milore told CNN. A larger stretch of the same road was closed to commercial traffic around 7 a.m. Saturday.
A weather-related traffic backup on southbound Interstate 75 in Kentucky is about 35 miles long-between mile marker 76 and 41, state trooper Kendra Wilson told CNN on Saturday morning. People have been stuck on the highway for more than 12 hours.
New Jersey saw some minor coastal flooding Saturday morning, though a bigger concern is snow that could fall at a rate of 2 to 3 inches an hour in some places, Gov. Chris Christie said. (See also page 14)
Washington Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier said things were “surprisingly quiet overnight” in her city, echoing other officials in the region. Nearby Baltimore had considerable snow but “no major issues” until a fire around 5:30 a.m. in the northeast part of the city, which led to “one serious injury,” Maloney said.
Winds started to pick up around 7 a.m. in New York, with a 41 mph gust reported at John F. Kennedy airport, city emergency spokesman Frank McCarton told CNN. At that point, there hadn’t been disruptions in rail services and public buses, while delayed, were moving with chains. But McCarton warned there is “low visibility” and heavy snow through late afternoon. Snowfall forecasts in the city have increased, with CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam saying 16 inches “is not out of the question.”
11 states were declared for heavy snow storm under emerency.