People take photos in Times Square as the snow gets heavier during a large winter storm in New York City, Jan. 23, 2016. (Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News)
Millions of people in the eastern United States dug out Sunday from a historic blizzard that brought New York and Washington to a standstill, but travel woes look set to persist into another week.
The storm — dubbed “Snowzilla” — killed at least 18 people after it walloped several states from Friday into early Sunday, affecting an estimated 85 million residents who were told to stay in doors and off the roads for their own safety. Forecasters said 26.8 inches (68 centimeters) of snow fell in New York’s Central Park, the second-highest accumulation in the city since records began in 1869, and more than 22 inches paralyzed the capital Washington.
Near-record-breaking snowfall was recorded in other cities up and down the East Coast, with Philadelphia and Baltimore also on the receiving end of some of the worst that Mother Nature could fling at them. (AP)
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In an image taken with a fisheye lens, tourists take photos of a snowman in New York City’s Times Square on Jan. 23, 2015. A blizzard with hurricane-force winds brought much of the East Coast to a standstill Saturday, dumping as much as 2 feet of snow, stranding tens of thousands of travelers. (Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News)
In this photo provided by Michael Watkins, traffic is at a standstill on the Pennsylvania Turnpike near Bedford, Pa., Saturday, Jan. 23, 2016. The Duquesne men’s basketball team and Temple University’s women’s gymnastics team are stuck on the Turnpike due to treacherous weather conditions. A mammoth winter storm crawled up the U.S. East Coast on Saturday, making roads impassable, shutting down mass transit, and bringing Washington and New York City to a standstill. (AP Photo/Michael Watkins via AP)
A vehicle with a plow gets stuck in a snowdrift as the operator attempts to dig his truck out during a large winter storm in New York City, Jan. 23, 2016. (Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News)
Pedestrians battle the elements as they walk across E.57th Street in midtown Manhattan in New York City, Saturday, Jan. 23, 2016. A blizzard with hurricane-force winds brought much of the East Coast to a standstill Saturday. (Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News)
Children enjoy some fun in the snow in Central Park in New York City, Jan. 24, 2016. Over 25 inches of snow in Central Park marked the third-largest snowfall since record-keeping began in 1869, police and weather officials said. (Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News)
Pedestrians make their way through heavy snow and deep embankments in midtown Manhattan in New York City, Saturday, Jan. 23, 2016. A blizzard with hurricane-force winds brought much of the East Coast to a standstill Saturday. (Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News)
A snowdrift covers the sidewalk and blocks the entrance of stores on W.57th Street in midtown Manhattan in New York City, Saturday, Jan. 23, 2016. A blizzard with hurricane-force winds brought much of the East Coast to a standstill Saturday. (Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News)
Children enjoy some fun in the snow in Central Park in New York City, Jan. 24, 2016. Over 25 inches of snow in Central Park marked the third-largest snowfall since record-keeping began in 1869, police and weather officials said. (Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News)
Pedestrians seek some temporary relief from a bus shelter as they walk across E.57th Street in midtown Manhattan in New York City, Saturday, Jan. 23, 2016. A blizzard with hurricane-force winds brought much of the East Coast to a standstill Saturday. (Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News)
People take photos in Times Square as the snow gets heavier during a large winter storm in New York City, Jan. 23, 2016. (Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News)
On Sunday August 28, 2011, the center of Hurricane Irene passed over the Central Park in New York City at midmorning with the storm packing 65 mph winds.
Heavy rains flooded some areas in New York City.
At least 26 people were killed in the US East Coast so far because of the hurricane.
The hurricane also caused some tornado.
Some areas in the U.S. East Coast are still flooded.
NEW YORK, NY – AUGUST 28: A view of rough surf and the Statue of Liberty from Valentino Pier in Red Hook Brooklyn as the skies clear in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene on August 28, 2011 in New York City. The hurricane hit New York as a Category 1 storm before being downgraded to a tropical storm. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty ImagesA couple stands in floodwater along the seawall in Battery Park as Hurricane Irene passes through New York, Sunday, August 28, 2011. Battery Park City and other areas in Battery Park have been evacuated in advance of the storm. Seawater surged into the streets of Manhattan on Sunday as Tropical Storm Irene slammed into New York, downgraded from a hurricane but still unleashing furious wind and rain. The flooding threatened Wall Street and the heart of the global financial network (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow) A local resident of Red Hook, Betty Walsh, crosses a flooded street in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. AFPJimmy Kaplow, left, and David Korostoff, both of New York, step through standing water at the Bethesda Fountain area in New York’s Central Park as Tropical Storm Irene passes through the city, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)A bicyclist makes his way past a stranded taxi on a flooded New York City Street as Tropical Storm Irene passes through the city, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)A security guard hangs on the door of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s SUV in the middle of a flooded street Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011, in Margaretville, N.Y. Gov. Cuomo was riding in the SUV, and posted some photos of the heavy flooding on his flickr site. Torrential rains from Tropical Storm Irene forced hundreds in the Hudson Valley from their homes, caused widespread power outages, closed 137 miles of the state’s main highway and swelled creeks and rivers to previously unseen levels. (AP Photo/Dick Sanford)Two Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority trains sit in water on flooded tracks at Trenton train station Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011, in Trenton, N.J., as rains from Hurricane Irene are causing inland flooding of rivers and streams. (AP Photo/Mel Evans) People wade through flood waters at the intersection of Main St and Plymouth St in Dumbo Brooklyn after Hurricane Irene hit the New York City Area Aug. 28, 2011Hotel employees work to clear water from a flooded area of the Allegria Hotel after flooding from Hurricane Irene in Long Beach, New York August 28, 2011. Hurricane Irene battered New York with heavy winds and driving rain on Sunday, shutting down the U.S. financial capital and most populous city, halting mass transit and causing massive power blackouts as it churned slowly northward along the eastern seaboard. REUTERS/Lucas JacksonRising water laps over the sea wall at Battery Park, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011, in New York. Hurricane Irene bore down on a dark and quiet New York early Sunday, bringing winds and rapidly rising seawater that threatened parts of the city. The rumble of the subway system was silenced for the first time in years, the city all but shut down for the strongest tropical lashing since the 1980s. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)Eddie Lima, left, and Nancy Zakhary wade through a flooded area near the Brooklyn Bridge in New York to take some pictures, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011. (AP Photo/Seth WenigThe ground floor entrance to the Allegria Hotel on West Broadway in Long Beach, N.Y., is covered in mud, after Hurricane Irene swept through Long Island on Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)Residents walk through a flooded street on Coney Island after Hurricane Irene hit New York. AFPNEW YORK, NY – AUGUST 28: Red Hook residents wade through flood waters filling the intersection of Van Brunt and Bowne St in Red Hook Brooklyn in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene on August 28, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images)A street stands deserted as Hurricane Irene hits in Brooklyn, in New York. AFPA New York City taxi is stranded in deep water on Manhattan’s West Side as Tropical Storm Irene passes through the city, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011 in New York. (AP Photo/Peter MorganA man walks on top of a wall next to a flooded highway in New Brunswick, N.J., Aug. 28, 2011, as heavy rains left by Hurricane Irene are causing inland flooding of rivers and streams. Flood waters rose all across New Jersey on Sunday, closing roads from side streets to major highways as Hurricane Irene weakened and moved on, leaving 600,000 homes and businesses without power. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)A security guard hangs on the door of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s SUV in the middle of a flooded street Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011, in Margaretville, N.Y. Gov. Cuomo was riding in the SUV, and posted some photos of the heavy flooding on his flickr site. Torrential rains from Tropical Storm Irene forced hundreds in the Hudson Valley from their homes, caused widespread power outages, closed 137 miles of the state’s main highway and swelled creeks and rivers to previously unseen levels. (AP Photo/Dick Sanford)Streets of Long Beach Island, N.J. are flooded after Hurricane Irene moved through the area Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011. Rivers and creeks surged toward potentially record levels late Sunday as Irene, just the third hurricane to come ashore in New Jersey in the past 200 years, charged to the north and left behind a mess — and a sense that the state got off relatively easy. (AP Photo/Rich Schultz)Streets of Asbury Park, N.J. are flooded after Hurricane Irene moved through the area Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011. (AP Photo/Rich Schultz)A person searches for anyone who may be occupying the building as raging flood waters from Tropical Storm Irene cross Route 100, closing the main road to traffic in Waitsfield, Vt., Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011. (AP Photo/Sandy Macys)A Fairfield Beach Road home is submerged in Pine Creek in Fairfield, Conn. as treacherous weather caused by Tropical Storm Irene came through the area on Sunday Aug. 28, 2011. Tropical Storm Irene sent sea water flooding into shoreline communities and destroyed oceanfront homes as it surged across Connecticut on Sunday, toppling trees and cutting power to nearly half the state. (AP Photo/The Connecticut Post, Cathy Zuraw)Denise Robinson clears out her destroyed beach home in the Sandbridge area of Virginia Beach after Hurricane Irene hit Virginia Beach, Va., Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011. Officials speculate that a tornado swept through the area. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)A flooded road is seen in Hatteras Island, N.C., Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011, after Hurricane Irene swept through the area Saturday cutting the roadway in five locations. Irene caused more than 4.5 million homes and businesses along the East Coast to reportedly lose power over the weekend, and at least 11 deaths were blamed on the storm. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)In this photo provided by Bill Deery, an historic footbridge is washed away by flood waters from Topical Storm Irene at Mt. Anthony Country club in Bennington, Vt., Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011. The remnants of Hurricane Irene dumped torrential rains on Vermont on Sunday, flooding rivers and closing roads from Massachusetts to the Canadian border, putting parts of two towns underwater and leaving one young woman swept away and feared drowned in the Deerfield River. (AP Photo/Bill DeeryA building is flooded by water that rose above the banks of the St. Jones River in Dover, Del., Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011, after Hurricane Irene dumped several inches of rain along the Delaware coast overnight. Stripped of hurricane rank, Tropical Storm Irene spent the last of its fury Sunday, leaving treacherous flooding and millions without power. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)Lechelle Spalding stands in front of her flooded home on the Outer Banks in Kitty Hawk, N.C., Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011 in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene after it left the North Carolina coast. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)