Travel snarled
The weather left more
than 500 people stranded on three Amtrak trains overnight in western and
north-central Illinois, Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said.
All three Chicago-bound
trains -- two coming from California, and one originating in Quincy,
Illinois -- stopped Monday afternoon or evening because conditions
prevented them from going further. At least one was stopped by "heavy
snow drifting in a trenchlike area," Magliari said.
"The passengers were
sheltered in place overnight," Magliari said. "It wasn't safe to take
people off these trains ... because there wasn't a good way to get
people to and from the trains in the bad weather."
Amtrak worked to make
other arrangements, putting some passengers on buses. The first buses
arrived in Chicago at 7 a.m. ET; the last bus wasn't expected to reach
the city until early Tuesday afternoon, Magliari said.
All the trains had heat and electricity throughout, he said.
"It certainly wasn't as
comfortable as anyone would have liked, but it was not unsafe," Magliari
said. "It was the best thing to do in these temperatures in these
conditions at that time overnight in that part of the state."
Jeanette Floyd, who
boarded one of the California trains in Kansas City, praised the crew
for helping to keep passengers positive, but said her trip -- which
ended up taking more than a day from start to finish -- still was "one
of the worst (experiences) ever."
"I can't feel my butt
because it's just not there anymore, just sitting for literally 26
hours," Floyd told CNN Tuesday after arriving in Chicago by bus. Floyd and other passengers said the crew gave them a complimentary meal during the stranding. A fourth Amtrak train
was stuck for nine hours Monday night and early Tuesday near Kalamazoo,
Michigan, about 300 passengers had to wait more than nine hours to reach
their destination, CNN affiliate WXMI reported. No reported
serious train injuries.
"It was kind of like purgatory," a passenger told CNN affiliate WLS,
adding that it was "not quite hellish because there was good company."
The train, which was bound for Chicago, finally arrived at the city's
Union Station on Monday night, WLS reported.
More than 2,400 flights were canceled within, into or out of the United States on Tuesday morning, according to flightaware.com. New York resident Mindy Goldberg said her family's flight back from Mexico had been diverted to Boston because of the weather. "I just called my kids'
school to tell them they wouldn't be there, and she said, 'Everyone's
stuck somewhere,'" Goldberg told CNN affiliate WBZ.
Ships ran into trouble as well. The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Hollyhock had to break through ice in Lake Michigan.
In Indianapolis, Los
Angeles resident Jason Bentley decided to play in the snow outside the
airport after learning that his flight home had been canceled Sunday. It
was 15 below zero (-26 Celsius).
JetBlue cancels Northeast flights to rest crews "This is the wettest
snow I've ever touched, the easiest snow to make a snowman and to have
snowball fights," Bentley wrote in a CNN Facebook discussion. "It's also probably the worst (weather) I've ever been in because of the temperature."
"Sick as a dog. Car is
dead. Roads are closed. Space heater died yesterday," Amanda Brooke of
Valparaiso, Indiana, said on Facebook. "Missing doctors' appointments
I've had for six months." She described herself as "cold, sick, and
trying not to be miserable."
In Columbus, Ohio,
Alexis Mitchell-Tremain posted that she still had to go to work. "So,
it's layers of clothing, the hubby's big woolly scarf, and a lot of
coffee."
Jason Coppula in
Pittsburgh can relate. "I have about three layers on, two gloves, two
(pairs of) socks, scarf and ski goggles," he wrote on Facebook.
Extreme wind chills mean
flesh can freeze in as little as five minutes. Several major school
districts are closed Tuesday, including those in Minneapolis and
Atlanta, to prevent children from waiting outside at bus stops.
Chicago opened up 12
centers for residents trying to stay warm, one of which was to stay open
through Tuesday. Libraries and some other city facilities would also be
open, said Evelyn Diaz of the city's Department of Family and Support
Services. Gov. Pat Quinn said 100 warming centers were open statewide.
When will this end?
