Storm Puts East in Deep Freeze, Disrupts Travel, Closes Schools

Snow and ice blew into the East on Thursday with more than a foot of snow icing roads from the Great Lakes to Georgia, snarling airline schedules and closing scores of schools. Snow even kept some soldiers from leaving for Somalia.

Eight to 36 inches of snow was predicted for Pennsylvania by Saturday. Gov. Robert P. Casey closed state offices three hours early Thursday and educators canceled school or sent students home early throughout the state.

Schools also were closed in parts of Michigan, Georgia, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland.

Pennsylvanians rushed to stores to stock up on supplies as the National Weather Service warned that the storm could be the worst in a decade for some parts of the state.

“This particular storm could go on through Saturday morning,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Fred Davis outside Baltimore.

West Virginia had up to 15 inches of snow, with up to two feet forecast in some areas by Saturday morning. Schools were closed in at least 31 of the state’s 55 counties.

In New Jersey, snow was falling in the mountains and rain and wind were pelting the shore. Streets in Atlantic City and Ocean City were heavily flooded.

About 85 residents of the Oceanside Rehabilitation and Convalescence Center in Atlantic City were evacuated because the storm’s high wind was expected to cause tides 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 feet above normal today.

In northern New York, snow forced 125 soldiers to wait until today to set out from Ft. Drum for Somalia.

Flights from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport were canceled during the morning and remaining flights were delayed up to 45 minutes for de-icing planes’ wings, said Chicago Aviation Department spokeswoman Lisa Howard.

Parts of Illinois had already gotten up to eight inches of snow the day before and two people were killed on slippery highways.

Ice rather than snow was the problem in parts of the Carolinas and northern Georgia.

“The roads are solid ice,” said Jerry Buchanan, a sheriff’s dispatcher in Buncombe County, N.C.