Snow closes schools, U.N., slows air travel

The United Nations was shut down and more than a million children got the day off from school Wednesday on the heels of a storm that dumped as much as 14 inches of snow in the Northeast.

It was the latest in a series of storms that have spread snow and ice across parts of the eastern half of the nation since the weekend.

Slippery roads have closed schools, businesses and some government offices from the Plains to the East Coast. Thousands of customers still had no electricity in the Southeast because of ice that broke tree limbs and power lines on Tuesday.

"I hate it. I think one storm a year is plenty for me," said Eunice Flynn, who braved the weather on Long Island to get a few things at a shopping center.

At least 55 deaths have been blamed on snow, ice and cold this week from Kansas to the East Coast.

Diplomats and tourists were surprised when they arrived at United Nations' headquarters in New York and found it closed because of the storm.

"I'm going to see the Statue of Liberty," declared Japanese tourist Midori Uchidate after a U.N. security guard told her that tours were canceled and she couldn't go inside.

She was about to face a double disappointment: Liberty Island was closed, too.

The storm did not live up to expectations in most of the Northeast. Albany, N.Y., got only 3.4 inches instead of the forecast 13 inches, the National Weather Service said. Rhode Island got only half the 10 inches predicted. But New York's Central Park got 10.5 and, 30 miles east of the city on Long Island, Dix Hills had 14.6.

In South Carolina, lights were back on Wednesday for most of the 300,000 customers who lost power after ice and snow blanketed the state, but thousands might remain without power until the weekend, utility officials said.

Classes were canceled in many school districts in New England and the Middle Atlantic region, including all schools in New York City, the nation's largest system with 1.1 million students. And for thousands of Maryland children, it was their third consecutive snow holiday.

It was the fourth snowstorm of the season for New York City. As of midnight Tuesday, Central Park had gotten 32.8 inches of snow since Dec. 1, more than 23 inches above average, meteorologist David Wally said.

Airlines canceled more than 400 flights Wednesday at Newark's airport, along with more than 300 at La Guardia and about 50 at Kennedy, officials said.

Since the weekend, the weather was blamed for seven deaths in North Carolina; six in South Carolina; five each in Iowa and Missouri; four in Ohio and Maryland; three each in Nebraska, New York, Virginia and Minnesota; two each in Indiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Oklahoma; and one each in Georgia, Kansas, New Jersey and West Virginia.