Battered East Coast begins digging out from deadly blizzard

The sun came out, travel bans slowly lifted, and the great dig-out of 2016 was in full force Sunday across much of the East after a brutal, record-setting snowstorm paralyzed much of the region.

The storm rolled off the coast and into the Atlantic, leaving behind clear skies and gusty winds. Baltimore and New York eased their bans on road travel and started revving up public transportation. Washington, D.C.'s Metro transit system was scheduled to remain shut all day Sunday, but expected to reopen on a limited basis Monday morning. The region's airports struggled to handle traffic, and more than 12,900 flights were canceled.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser on Sunday said city schools and government would be closed Monday, but that the city would provide free breakfasts and lunches to students at 10 locations. Amtrak also reported that it would operate on Monday in the mid-Atlantic region, but on a modified schedule.

The snowstorm was the biggest ever recorded for three cities — Baltimore (29.2 inches), Allentown, Pa. (31.9) and Harrisburg, Pa. (34), the National Weather Service said. New York City picked up 26.8 inches of snow, missing its all-time record by one-tenth of an inch. The city was recruiting laborers to shovel snow for $13.50 per hour.

“This was one of the worst storms to ever hit New York City, and we need all hands on deck to dig us out,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

Broadway was back in business Sunday after shows were canceled Saturday. In Central Park, the mood was festive, with people saying "good morning" and "hello" as they glided on cross-country skis or toted a sled toward a hill. Jermaine Fletcher and Linda Kuo walked arm-in-arm along the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, happy to be out after more than 24 hours holed up indoors.

"The snow is pretty," said Kuo, 33, of Manhattan. "It's always really pretty the day after."

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Washington saw 17.8 inches of snow at Reagan National Airport, the city's official measurement, while suburban Washington Dulles Airport was blasted with 29.3 inches. In nearby Arlington, Va., Allie Vasquez, 12, was spending all day in the snow, helping shovel out an elderly neighbor on an unplowed street before sledding with friends.

"Snow drifts are 3 or 4 feet deep in some places," Allie said. "I can barely walk through it. It's crazy."

More than 50,000 people along the eastern seaboard remained without power Sunday, much improved from the height of the storm when 250,000 utility customers were affected. South Carolina, where icy conditions prevailed, and New Jersey, hard hit by storm surges during high tides, continued to have the biggest problems with outages.

At one point, more than 60 million people had been under warnings for a blizzard, winter storm or freezing rain as the storm roared from Georgia to Massachusetts. At least 28 people died in storm-related incidents, the Associated Press reported Sunday afternoon.

In Greenville, S.C., an elderly couple died from carbon monoxide poisoning inside their home, The Greenville News reported. The couple had lost power during the storm and a family member had helped them set up a generator inside their garage, officials said. Somehow a door propped open to vent the deadly gas became closed and carbon monoxide filled the house.

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In some areas, the heavy snow meant roof collapses. Several were reported in York County, Pa., including the roof of a hangar at York Airport, the York Daily Record reported.

On Sunday, the storm began loosening its icy grip. New York City and Long Island lifted travel bans that had included all transit from New Jersey bridges and tunnels into and out of the city. Baltimore lifted its driving ban but still required vehicles to be equipped with special tires or chains.

"Historical snow storm. Please be patient, it will take awhile for clean-up especially small streets," Baltimore's Transportation Department tweeted.

In Virginia, Gov. Terry McAuliffe toured parts of the state by helicopter and said interstates were cleared and "commerce is back."

"Every Virginia resident was touched by this storm, every part of our state saw some snow," McAuliffe said. "This was a massive storm for us in the commonwealth."

Runways at two of Washington’s major airports — Dulles and Reagan National, both in Virginia — remained shut for the day as crews grappled with heavy and drifting snow. At National Airport, more than 10% of Monday's schedule had already been grounded.

Airports in New York and Philadelphia will operate, but with greatly reduced schedules.

Coastal communities from North Carolina to southern New England worked to recover from flooding that struck during high tides amid the blizzard and high winds.

"This, in my opinion, is worse than (Hurricane) Sandy," Len Desiderio, the mayor of Sea Isle City, N.J., told CBS Philly Sunday. "We're dealing with severe flooding."

In Philadelphia, residents dug out on Sunday afternoon, even as many side streets had yet to see a plow. A few locals took matters into their own hands. Seth Rohrbaugh attempted to dig out the exit of an off-street parking site at a Fairmount apartment complex.

“I figure people are going to have places to go,” he said. “I might as well help the people who are snowed in.”

The financial cost of the storm remains to be calculated, but it is going to be in the billions, experts said.

“This event has all the makings of a multibillion-dollar economic cost,” said meteorologist Steven Bowen of Aon Benfield, a London-based global re-insurance firm. After adding up damage to homes, vehicles, businesses and more, "we're potentially looking at one of the costlier winter storm events in recent memory,” he said.

The Blizzard of 1996, which was similar in size and scope to this weekend's storm, had a $4.6 billion economic cost (in 2016 dollars), Bowen said. “No two events are identical, but this provides some context as to how costly these storms can be.”

Contributing: Ben Mutzabaugh, Melanie Eversley, Gregg Zoroya and Greg Toppo, USA TODAY; Brittany Horn, The (Wilmington) News Journal