Washington faces days of cleanup after epic blizzard

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK: Washington will need several more days to return to normal after a weekend blizzard dropped more than 2 feet of snow along the US East Coast, likely causing billions of dollars in damage and killing more than 30 people.

The US capital was at a standstill, with federal government offices to be closed again on Tuesday, schools in the district and surrounding suburbs shut until at least Wednesday, and the US House of Representatives canceling all votes until next week.
Washington’s mayor, Muriel Bowser, said city public schools would remain closed on Tuesday but that city government offices would reopen. She urged people to use mass transit rather than trying to drive and park on the city’s snow-clogged roads.
“We knew that we would have ... several days of cleanup ahead of us,” Bowser told reporters. “Know that we’re going to be dealing with snow all of this week.”
Officials reported at least 36 storm-related deaths, including traffic accidents and heart attacks while shoveling snow in Washington, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia.
The dead included a North Carolina man who was shot and killed when he saw a motorist who had run off the road in the storm and attempted to help him. The motorist remained jailed on murder charges on Monday.
Risk Management Solutions meteorologist Jeff Waters said he could not provide specific damage estimates yet, but said the storm “could rank as one of the more significant events in recent history.”
He said comparable historical storms would include the Blizzard of 1996, which caused approximately $1.5 billion in economic losses and $740 million insured losses at the time.