US Northeast digs out from blizzard

 "Travel will be difficult to impossible at times on other highways in many areas of South Dakota," state transportation officials said in a statement.    

Friday and Saturday's mammoth storm stretched from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic and covered several spots in the Northeast with more than 3 feet (91 cm) of snow. Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts took the brunt of the blizzard.

Hamden, Connecticut, had 40 inches (101 cm) and nearby Milford 38 inches (96.5 cm), the National Weather Service said.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Sunday that 675 pieces of equipment and 975 personnel had been dispatched to help Suffolk County, making up the eastern half of Long Island, dig out of 3 feet of snow.

"Suffolk County has not seen a winter storm like Nemo in years, and the massive amount of snow left behind effectively shut down the entire region," Cuomo said in a statement, referring to the Weather Channel's name for the storm.

Some Transit Still Suspended

Amtrak said it planned to run a limited service between New York and Boston on Sunday and a regular Sunday schedule from New York to the state capital in Albany.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority said it planned to resume limited service on Sunday afternoon.  

The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority and Connecticut Transit said service would remain suspended on Sunday.

Stratford, Connecticut, Mayor John Harkins told WTNH television on Saturday that snow had fallen at a rate of 6 inches (15 cm) an hour and even plows were getting stuck.

The storm dropped 31.9 inches (81 cm) of snow on Portland, Maine, breaking a 1979 record, the weather service said. Winds gusted to 83 miles per hour (134 kph) at Cuttyhunk, New York, and brought down trees across the region.

The storm contributed to at least five deaths in Connecticut and two each in New York state and Boston, authorities said. A motorist in New Hampshire also died when he went off a road but authorities said his health may have been a factor in the crash.

The two deaths in Boston were separate incidents of carbon monoxide poisoning in cars, an 11-year-old boy and a man in his early 20s. The boy had climbed into the family car to keep warm while his father cleared snow. The engine was running but the exhaust was blocked, said authorities.

There were also road rescues along the Long Island Expressway from Friday night to Saturday morning, some using snowmobiles. A baby girl was delivered early on Saturday by emergency services personnel in Worcester, Massachusetts.