Buses were stranded on snowed-in highways and passengers in New York City spent a cold night stuck in an unheated subway train.
Officials urged anyone who did not have to drive to stay off roads in the region, where high winds pushed snow into deep drifts across streets, railroads and runways. More than two feet of snow had fallen in some areas by Monday morning.
In Monmouth County, New Jersey, state troopers brought water and food to diabetics marooned on two buses carrying about 50 people on the Garden State Parkway, where stranded cars cluttering ramps stymied snow plows and ambulances, state police spokesman Steve Jones told NBC's "Today" show. One bus was freed by 7 a.m. and the other was expected to be out soon, he said.
In New York City, hundreds of cold, hungry and tired passengers were stranded overnight at John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty airports. Officials said they were being provided blankets and cots, but some would-be travelers were not allowed to retrieve their checked luggage, leaving them with no extra clothing or toiletries.
At Newark airport, tall snowdrifts covered the landing gear of Continental jets. A truck with a snowplow moved across the tarmac, digging out a British Airways plane as passengers watched from the terminal.
Not even New York City's vaunted subway system — usually the reliable workhorse during a snow storm — could withstand the storm. Some subway passengers were stranded for hours on trains that broke down in Queens.
Hundreds of travelers dozed Monday in Long Island Rail Road train cars frozen at the platform. Others lay like refugees at the entrance to the train link to Kennedy Airport and stood helpless at the ticket office, waiting in vain for good news to flash on the schedule screens. Hours went by without a single train leaving with passengers.
Buses were knocked out as well, cabs were little more than a myth and those who tried walking out of the station were assailed with a hard, frigid wind that made snowflakes sting like needles.
