Snow Stuns US East Coast with Driving Blizzards

America snowed under by unprecedented winter fall.

Millions of Americans were left digging their properties out of the snow yesterday as blizzards blanketed the east coast.

From Virginia to Massachusetts snow drifts several feet high caused problems for people trying to get to work as many offices were forced to close. Government employees were told to stay at home for the fourth day in a row as federal offices were largely unreachable in the snow.

Record snow falls have been recorded in Washington, Philadelphia and Baltimore, with one and a half feet (48cm) of snow falling on Wednesday alone. Despite a foot of snow falling on America’s financial capital, New York refused to grind to a halt, with commuters relentlessly battling the cold to continue their work.

A no-nonsense employee at an opticians, Denise Rocke told The New York Times: “I’m a New Yorker. It snows here and this is what we do: we get up and go to work.” Schools across New York reopened yesterday after Mayor Michael Bloomberg had ordered schools closed on Wednesday.

Air travel is also slowly getting back on its feet across the eastern States having suffered the biggest setback in disruptions since the 9/11 terror attacks. Flights are expected to continue as normal over the weekend but travellers are being urged to check with their airline before departing for the airport.

With the descending flurries of snowflakes across America Gnews wants to capture the unfolding snowy events in our new picture competition, the Olympus Snow Photo Competition 2010. The lovely people at Olympus have donated five awesome digital cameras to be won by Gnews readers.

Upload your photos, post your comments and follow our feed on Twitter for more information to be announced soon.

By Carla Windsor posted February 12, 2010 1:31 AM with 525 views