A blizzard packing hurricane-force winds hammered the northeastern United States on Saturday, cutting power to 700,000 homes and businesses, shutting down travel and leaving at least nine people dead.
Friday and Saturday's mammoth storm stretched from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic and covered several spots in the Northeast with more than 3 feet (90 cm) of snow.
Coastal blizzard and flood warnings were in effect, but Massachusetts and Connecticut lifted vehicle travel bans as the storm slowly moved eastward on Saturday evening.
Utility companies reported about 700,000 customers without electricity across nine states as the wet, heavy snow brought down tree branches and power lines.
The storm centered its fury on Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, with the highest snowfall total, 40 inches (102 cm), in Hamden, Connecticut.
About 2,200 flights were canceled on Saturday, for a total of more than 5,800 over the past two days, according to FlightAware, which tracks airline delays. A few hundred additional cancellations are possible for Sunday, it said.
The storm dumped 29.3 inches (74 cm) of snow on Portland, Maine, breaking a 1979 record, the weather service said. Winds gusted to 83 miles per hour (134 km per hour) at Cuttyhunk, New York, and brought down trees across the region.
Snow and, in some areas, blizzard conditions were expected across parts of Colorado, Nebraska, North Dakota, Minnesota, South Dakota and Wyoming, it said. A foot or more of snow is expected in some areas.
