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Massive Winter Storm Hits Northeastern US

Winter-Weary Americans Struggle With Another Round of Ice, Snow
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Related video report by VOA's Carolyn Presutti.

A winter storm that froze the U.S. southeast in its tracks Wednesday pushed north on Thursday, with driving winds and heavy snow snarling travel and closing many schools.

More than 700,000 people from Florida to New Jersey, including residents of Georgia and South Carolina hit by the heavy blast of ice a day earlier, were without power as the storm made its way up the coast and threatened to drop up to 18 inches (45 cm) of snow in some areas.

Massive Winter Storm Hits the US

People help push a stranded motorist stuck in deep snow on Stefko Boulevard, Feb. 13, 2014 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
1/17 People help push a stranded motorist stuck in deep snow on Stefko Boulevard, Feb. 13, 2014 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
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A long line of travelers winds around the atrium at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport when operations return after the effects of a major winter storm halted flights for three days, Feb. 13, 2014, in Atlanta.
2/17 A long line of travelers winds around the atrium at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport when operations return after the effects of a major winter storm halted flights for three days, Feb. 13, 2014, in Atlanta.
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Cars are backed up as a van was stuck trying to get up a hill, Feb. 13, 2014 in Concord, New Hampshire.
3/17 Cars are backed up as a van was stuck trying to get up a hill, Feb. 13, 2014 in Concord, New Hampshire.
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A worker uses a snow blower to clear snow off the steps at Lincoln Center, the site of New York Fashion Week, in the Manhattan borough of New York, Feb. 13, 2014.
4/17 A worker uses a snow blower to clear snow off the steps at Lincoln Center, the site of New York Fashion Week, in the Manhattan borough of New York, Feb. 13, 2014.
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Julia Rea cross-country skis on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., Feb. 13, 2014.
5/17 Julia Rea cross-country skis on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., Feb. 13, 2014.
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A young girl tosses snow from an Interstate 76 embankment as she and others play, Feb. 13, 2014, in Philadelphia.
6/17 A young girl tosses snow from an Interstate 76 embankment as she and others play, Feb. 13, 2014, in Philadelphia.
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Departures are canceled due to snow at Washington's Ronald Reagan National Airport, Feb. 13, 2014.
7/17 Departures are canceled due to snow at Washington's Ronald Reagan National Airport, Feb. 13, 2014.
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Marilyn Newton uses her cross-country skis as she travels through the snow in Charlotte, North Carolina, Feb. 13, 2014 after a winter storm hit the area.
8/17 Marilyn Newton uses her cross-country skis as she travels through the snow in Charlotte, North Carolina, Feb. 13, 2014 after a winter storm hit the area.
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Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Officers work to assist motorists as they attempt to drive up a hill that is covered in snow in Charlotte, North Carolina, Feb. 12, 2014.
9/17 Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Officers work to assist motorists as they attempt to drive up a hill that is covered in snow in Charlotte, North Carolina, Feb. 12, 2014.
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Snow plows clear downtown lanes on Interstate 75/85 during a winter storm in Atlanta, Georgia,  Feb. 12, 2014.
10/17 Snow plows clear downtown lanes on Interstate 75/85 during a winter storm in Atlanta, Georgia,  Feb. 12, 2014.
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Stacks of icy snow are piled up outside a home after it was removed from a driveway in Cincinnati, Ohio, Feb. 12, 2014.
11/17 Stacks of icy snow are piled up outside a home after it was removed from a driveway in Cincinnati, Ohio, Feb. 12, 2014.
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Emergency personnel secure a downed power line in Atlanta, Georgia, Feb. 12, 2014.
12/17 Emergency personnel secure a downed power line in Atlanta, Georgia, Feb. 12, 2014.
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Fort Payne Improvement Authority workers work on lines that had become heavy with ice and were being blown around by high winds in Dog Town, Alabama, Feb. 12, 2014.
13/17 Fort Payne Improvement Authority workers work on lines that had become heavy with ice and were being blown around by high winds in Dog Town, Alabama, Feb. 12, 2014.
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Tom Bladel works to push a stranded motorist back onto the road in Pineville, North Carolina, Feb. 12, 2014.
14/17 Tom Bladel works to push a stranded motorist back onto the road in Pineville, North Carolina, Feb. 12, 2014.
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Almost empty shelves at a grocery store after people prepared for an ice storm in Lilburn outside Atlanta, Georgia, Feb. 12, 2014.
15/17 Almost empty shelves at a grocery store after people prepared for an ice storm in Lilburn outside Atlanta, Georgia, Feb. 12, 2014.
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A snow plow knocks snow off the an Atlanta expressway during an ice storm in Atlanta, Georgia, Feb. 12, 2014.
16/17 A snow plow knocks snow off the an Atlanta expressway during an ice storm in Atlanta, Georgia, Feb. 12, 2014.
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Icicles hang from a statue of Jeff Cook of the band Alabama in Fort Payne, Alabama, Feb. 12, 2014.
17/17 Icicles hang from a statue of Jeff Cook of the band Alabama in Fort Payne, Alabama, Feb. 12, 2014.
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About 6,349 U.S flights were canceled and another 2,396 were delayed with Charlotte/Douglas International Airport, Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and Philadelphia International Airport the hardest hit, said flight-tracking website FlightAware.com.

About 1,000 people spent the night on cots and mats at the Charlotte airport in North Carolina. Across the state in Durham, motorists stuck in traffic that resembled the gridlock mess in Atlanta two weeks ago found refuge for the night at a shopping mall.

The storm system, which has dumped heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain from eastern Texas to the Carolinas since Tuesday, was blamed for at least 15 deaths in the South.

In New York, a pregnant 36-year-old woman was killed by a private snow plow in a parking lot in Brooklyn, said police spokeswoman Sergeant Jessica McRorie. Doctors at a nearby hospital were trying to save the baby.

There were extensive bus service cancellations in Washington, D.C., New Jersey and Philadelphia. Federal offices in Washington, and state offices in Connecticut and western Massachusetts were closed. Rhode Island's state legislature called off its sessions for the day.

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    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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