Ohio Buried by Blizzard

The winter storm dumped more than 20 inches of snow on Columbus on Saturday, while blizzard conditions shut down highways and stranded air travelers in the region.

The storm eventually swept into the East Coast, battering Pennsylvania and New Jersey with a line of thunderstorms. By early Sunday, tens of thousands were left without electric power.

High winds in Ohio whipped the snow into 3-foot-tall drifts in some places and cut visibility to less than a quarter mile, the National Weather Service said.

"It's horrible out there right now," said 58-year-old Carman Bonfiglio, a FedEx Corp. driver who was stranded at a truck stop in Sunbury, about 20 miles northeast of Columbus.

"Trucks are just spinning right here. In my days of driving I've never seen anything like it."

Level 3 snow emergencies, barring all but emergency traffic, were issued in nine Ohio counties yesterday. Among them were Sandusky, Erie, Ottawa, Hancock, Seneca, and Crawford counties. Some rural roads were blocked by blowing snow and drifts.

Today's forecast calls for another inch of snow.

About 1,200 state snow plows were deployed on Saturday, and road departments worked through the day to clear snow that just kept falling.