Winter storm dumps snow, ice on US northeast

WASHINGTON, Feb 14 (Reuters) A winter storm roared into the northeastern United States today, dumping a mixture of snow, ice, sleet and rain that caused transportation havoc and forced many schools to close.

The National Weather Service issued a storm warning for the region while in Virginia the governor declared a statewide emergency as the storm, packing winds of up to 40 miles per hour (65 kph), moved out of the Midwest and up the east coast.

The Office of Personnel Management said federal workers in the US capital region could show up two hours late for work.

Area schools were closed and local news reports urged people to stay at home if possible.

No planes were flying in or out of Washington's two major airports overnight, and they were not expected to resume operations before late morning. Many airlines had canceled early morning flights in anticipation of the storm.

''Right now we are not operating at either Reagan International or Dulles International. Our crews are still working on the runways and taxiways,'' said Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority spokeswoman Tara Hamilton.

''Our best estimate is that we should, hopefully, have the runways and taxiways cleared by late morning. It will take some time though for the airlines to get back on schedule because of the delays both from yesterday afternoon as well as this morning,'' said Hamilton.

United Airlines, the largest carrier at both Reagan and Dulles airports, shut down its operations through this morning, while long delays were reported at the New York and Philadelphia air terminals.

As much as 3 feet of snow was forecast for parts of New England along with wind chills down to 35 degrees below zero (-37 C), while freezing rain in the Mid-Atlantic prompted concerns about power outages.

REUTERS KD HS1939