THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 10, 1996 TAG: 9601100658
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROGER PETTERSON, ASSOCIATED PRESS
LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
Crews digging the East out after the Blizzard of '96 piled the snow up to 15 feet high or dumped it by the truckload into rivers Tuesday as some idled workers and snowbound children began to grow restless.
``For the first time in my life I felt like a prisoner. You couldn't leave, you were a hostage here, a hostage to the weather,'' said Jim Vanstone, a traveler from Montreal stuck for two days at Newark International Airport in New Jersey.
At least 95 deaths, including 13 in Virginia, were blamed on the storm that paralyzed much of the East under 1 1/2 to 3 feet of snow.
In Virginia, three hikers snowbound in Shenandoah National Park were rescued Tuesday, while seven others remained stranded but fortified after a Virginia National Guard helicopter dropped off food and water.
Maj. Tom Wilkinson of the National Guard said armored personnel carriers were unable to reach a group of three adults and three children marooned at a campsite along the Rapidan River. Supplies were dropped to that group and a man who sought shelter in a lean-to in the park's primitive back country.
In New York, flights began arriving and taking off again as runways were cleared of snowdrifts up to 20 feet high. Frustrated commuters elbowed for space on the few suburban trains that were running.
``I'm going home, baby, and I ain't coming back,'' said Stefan Kraus as he boarded a morning flight from Philadelphia to head home to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. ``Snow blows.''
Amtrak said it would resume normal weekday schedules today along its busy Northeast Corridor between Richmond, Va., and Boston.
Schools remained closed Tuesday from northern Georgia to New Hampshire. New York City's 1 million schoolchildren got another day off; New York's schools last closed in 1978.
Many government offices and businesses were closed for a second day.
A new but weaker storm headed for the region; 3 to 5 inches was possible overnight in Massachusetts, with light snow in New York. Snow also fell again during the day in Washington.
Still more snow could arrive this weekend, but it was too soon to predict how much.
Getting the blizzard's 2 to 3 feet of snow off sidewalks, streets, highways and runways was just the beginning. For starters, where do you put it?
Philadelphia city crews dumped truckloads into the Schuylkill River. Crews excavating New York City's Rockefeller Center heaped it up outside the ``Today'' show studio and then trucked it to docks to be dumped into the Hudson River. Trenton, N.J., scraped it up and made a mountain out of a parking lot at the Trenton Thunder baseball stadium.
There wasn't much concern about the snow polluting rivers. Most cities hardly got a chance to spread salt on it before it clogged streets and highways. And outside the cities, some people didn't have to worry about it.
``Up here, we're just pushing the snow back out of the way,'' said Dave Chapman of the Public Works Department in New York's Columbia County, 30 miles south of Albany.
New York's Kennedy and LaGuardia airports opened, as did Newark. But the Port Authority, which operates the metropolitan area's three airports, said airline service might not be back to normal for two to three more days.
``I need to burn the clothes I've worn for the last two days,'' said Alice English, 33, waiting at LaGuardia for a flight home to Toronto.
The first flight out of Newark, Continental's 681, streaked for warmer climes: Melbourne, Fla.
Washington's Dulles and National airports remained closed. Philadelphia and Boston reopened. Baltimore-Washington International opened for 90 minutes, then shut down again as flying snow cut visibility.
Amtrak's Cardinal train, stuck in West Virginia for two days, resumed its trip from Chicago to Washington. Its 101 passengers had been stranded at a motel in South Charleston.
Grocery store shelves were gradually being refilled.
``We're fully stocked on bread and have a limited supply of milk,'' Maurice Diaz said at a store in New York's Harlem neighborhood. But don't count on eggs, cereal or bottled water. ``We're still waiting for those deliveries.'' ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS photo
Ernie Heath, 65, of Monterey, Mass., reclaims his wife's car from 33
inches of snow.
KEYWORDS: WEATHER BLIZZARD SNOW by CNB