ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 9, 1996 TAG: 9601110067
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
A blizzard of historic proportions shut down the East at the start of the work week Monday, stopping cars, trains, planes and just about anything else that moves. At least 41 deaths were blamed on the weather.
``The snow in some places was thigh-high. You had no idea whether you were stepping onto a curb or a snow-covered sinkhole. I did both,'' said lawyer Ron Kuby in New York City.
Only emergency vehicles were allowed on many highways and New York City streets - Hoboken, N.J., even set up roadblocks - and all major airports were closed from Washington to Boston. Bus lines shut down, and passengers from one Amtrak train were stuck in a West Virginia hotel.
The most snow was in the Appalachians, with 43 inches in West Virginia's Webster County and 30 inches in parts of Virginia and Tennessee. Far to the south, northern Georgia got a foot, and Alabama highways were iced.
Hyed their first snow day since 1978.
The statue of George Washington in front of the NYSE ``looks more like `Frosty' today,'' said brokerage clerk Chris Betts.
Even using cross-country skis was dangerous. Vivian Toan ran into trouble using her skis on New York's Brooklyn Bridge. ``I almost got blown off,'' she said. ``I had to hang on to some of the cables.''
Drifts at New York's airports were as high as 20 feet, said Port Authority executive director George Marlin. ``I don't know what we're going to do. We don't want to spend another night here,'' Ana Costa said at New York's Kennedy Airport. She and her husband drove from Boston to meet relatives flying in from Spain. The relatives got diverted to Montreal and the Costas were stuck at the airport, where most people spent the night on the cold floor or in chairs.
``You plow, and 10 minutes later it looks like nothing's been done,'' said Jim Robinson, spokesman for the New Jersey Turnpike.
A barn collapsed on a Wilkes County, N.C., farm, killing many of the 17,000 chicks inside. The remaining chickens, owned by Tyson Foods, all have to be destroyed because disease may set in from the extreme cold.
LENGTH: Short : 45 linesby CNB