Travel woes as winter storm blankets eastern US and Canada

A major winter storm blanketed a swath of North America in snow stretching up the east coast from Georgia to Canada, disrupting travel and cutting power to thousands of homes.

The Canadian capital Ottawa, which was under a blizzard warning Monday, saw nearly 19 inches (48 centimeters) of snow, Environment Canada said. Ottawa paramedics thanked an eight-year-old boy for helping save an elderly man he found nearly buried in snow on Monday.

"The gentleman was almost all covered due to the huge snowfall when Clayton spotted him & notified his parents who activated 9-1-1," the paramedic service tweeted with a photo of the boy.

Across the border, the Ohio city of Ashtabula, on the shores of Lake Erie, saw 27 inches of snow, while down south even parts of Georgia and South Carolina received about 10 inches, the US National Weather Service tweeted.

There was relief however for many Americans who had been without electricity as supplies were gradually restored, with fewer than 40,000 customers still without power early Tuesday, compared with about 120,000 Monday afternoon, according to the website PowerOutage.us. More than 1,700 flights within, into or out of the United States were canceled Monday, in addition to 3,000 the day before, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware. With the storm conditions abating, just 175 flights were canceled on Tuesday.

As snow accumulation slowed by late Monday, blizzard and winter storm warnings for much of the Canadian province of Ontario were lifted, although snow squall and extreme cold warnings remained in place.

Toronto, which saw nearly a foot (29 centimeters) of snow, and Ottawa banned cars from parking on the streets under winter rules to allow snow plows to clear the cities. Many schools were closed and school buses were not operating in Quebec and the south of Ontario, including the Toronto area. Students had been due to return to classrooms on Monday in both provinces after the holiday break.

Monday was a national holiday in the United States, so most schools and businesses were already closed, though many people usually take the opportunity to travel during the long weekend. The National Weather Service said earlier it expected the storm to "slowly wind down" but that snow would continue to fall through the evening in upper New York and New England.