After the storm comes the big dig out

WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Digging out from the Mid-Atlantic storm dubbed "Snowmageddon" could take several days, officials said Saturday as the snow stopped falling at last.

By evening, the storm had moved out to sea, leaving an area from Virginia through South Jersey and as far west as Ohio covered with up to 3 feet of snow, the National Weather Service said.

Reports from Washington ranged up to 27 inches with Philadelphia getting 28.5, just short of the record set in January 1996. Some areas in Virginia reported more than 3 feet.

Plowing side streets was likely to be a drawn-out process with more snow in the forecast for Tuesday, The Washington Post reported.

"Monday is not going to be a get-to-work day," Joan Morris of the Virginia Department of Transportation said. "It's going to be the better part of next week before we finish with the subdivisions. I can see it being Wednesday or Thursday."

States of emergency were in force throughout the region.

The storm brought down power lines, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without electricity. Roads were closed, including Interstate 95, the main East Coast artery.

Two deaths had been blamed on the weather by late Saturday. A father and son who stopped to help another driver involved in a crash were killed when they were struck by a tractor-trailer early Friday in Virginia.

In Washington, hundreds of people participated in a group snowball fight in Dupont Circle organized via Twitter, NPR said.

In Philadelphia, snowboarders used the steps of the Art Museum, made famous by the "Rocky" movies, as a ski slope, KYW-TV said.