East Coast Begins Cleanup after Winter Storm Jonas

WASHINGTON -- After shutting down much of the East Coast over the weekend, Winter Storm Jonas is still causing trouble at the beginning of the work week.

People across the South and East Coast are cleaning up all that's left of the winter storm.

"Good exercise. I won't need the gym today," one resident said.

"So far, so good except when the newspaper gets caught in the snow blower," another remarked.

While Jonas created a picturesque winter wonderland in many places, it also created dangerous road conditions.

Several brave residents ventured out onto the snow and ice-covered streets of the nation's capital. Here's what they told CBN's John Jessup about post-blizzard conditions:

In Wildwood, New Jersey, the streets were turned into ice-capped lakes. Meanwhile, in suburban Washington, D.C., the weight of the snow toppled the Redskins practice dome.

It also collapsed the roof of a Philadelphia-area church before Sunday services.

"I opened up the door to the auditorium, looked up and there was a gaping hole in the roof," Lee Wiggins, senior pastor of Calvary Fellowship Church, said.

Baltimore got its biggest snow total ever: nearly 30 inches. And in New York City, kids and their parents enjoyed sledding in Central Park, which saw the second highest snowfall since record keeping began in 1869. A city-wide travel ban is no longer in effect after crews cleared major roadways.

Air travel is slowly returning to normal after grinding to a halt, with some 12,000 flights canceled since Friday.

"I just want to get out of here and go home," one traveler said.

"I show up to the airport today, thinking my flight was okay and then the airport was closed," another said.

Motorists received an apology from state officials after hundreds of vehicles were stuck on a Pennsylvania turnpike for 20 to 30 hours.

"It just felt hopeless. Is it ever going to end? Are we ever going to leave?" one stranded motorist recalled.

Students from Owensboro Catholic High School in Kentucky offered what little food they had when their bus got snarled in traffic after attending the March for Life in Washington.

"We've gave them food and some of them came on the bus with us," one student said.

They even led an impromptu mass on the highway.

Meanwhile, forecasters predict it will be weeks before all the snow from the huge storm melts away.

In the short term, that means keeping people off the roads until they're safe for heavy use. About two dozen storm-related deaths have been reported – and no one wants to see that number rise.

In Washington, federal government offices are closed Monday to give the city more time to keep digging out from this record-setting snow and to keep area workers and residents safe.