East Coast storm strands travelers, vexes drivers

Workers up and down the East Coast are tugging on their boots and lugging out their snow shovels, trying to return to their post-Christmas routines as a treacherous winter storm crawls up the coast.

In Boston, it seems many travelers are heeding the warning to stay home or arrive late to work. The monster storm dumped about a foot of snow on southern New England on Monday.

The blizzard conditions wreaked havoc on travelers from the Carolinas to Maine and thousands of airline, bus and rail passengers are stranded.

Airlines are scrambling to rebook passengers but say they didn’t expect normal service to resume until Tuesday. New York City’s airports remain closed due to blizzard conditions on Monday.

A treacherous commute of lashing winds, slick streets and low visibility buffetted workers returning Monday to their post-Christmas routines as a winter storm that dumped about a foot of snow on southern New England continued crawling up the East Coast, stranding thousands of airline, bus and rail passengers.

The blizzard conditions wreaked havoc on travelers from the Carolinas to Maine, forced the suspension of operations at some of the nation’s busiest airports and marooned a passenger bus carrying about 50 people, some with diabetes, on a New Jersey highway.

Airlines scrambled to rebook passengers on thousands of canceled flights — more than 1,400 out of the New York City area’s three major airports alone — but said they didn’t expect normal service to resume until Tuesday. Amtrak canceled train service from New York to Maine after doing the same earlier for several trains in Virginia. The nation’s largest commuter rail system, New York’s Long Island RailRoad, also suspended service. Bus companies canceled routes up and down the East Coast, and drivers faced hazardous travel conditions — sometimes with close to zero visibility.