Winter storm buries southern New England

In Bridgewater, Mass., a suburb about 30 miles south of Boston that was without power, eight people had checked into an emergency shelter.

Primile Chiocha, 89, wore a sweatshirt with a drawing of an ice-skating penguin holding a "Let it snow!" sign while she ate a turkey sandwich and chatted with other ladies at the shelter.

"I came mostly because I was cold and I wanted a cup of coffee," she said. "I hope I'm not here too long. I like to be home. There's nothing like home."

Plows were out in force in New Jersey and in New York, which was getting hit by snow for the third time in less than three weeks, after the Christmas weekend blizzard and a 2-inch dusting last week.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said crews would work even harder after criticism of how the city handled the blizzard, when hundreds of streets went unplowed, subway riders got stranded and medical calls were unanswered.

As the storm swept north, the National Weather Service reported that there was snow on the ground in every state except Florida. That included Hawaii, which had 7 inches on the top of the Mauna Kea mountain.

"I think it has happened in the past, but it's not very often that it happens," said James Peronto of the weather service.

The weather has been blamed for at least 14 deaths and many more injuries since Sunday.

In Ohio, an athletic trainer was killed when a bus carrying members of a wrestling team from the University of Mount Union collided with a snowplow.

In the South, road crews lacked winter equipment, salt and sand to clear the roads, and millions of people just stayed home. Mail delivery was restricted, and many schools and other institutions canceled activities.

Some schools remained closed Wednesday in western North Carolina as well as in Charlotte, the state's largest city. Workers reported progress clearing highways, but many secondary roads remained dangerous because of ice.

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Bob Salsberg in Natick, Mass.; Denise Lavoie in Weymouth, Mass., John Christoffersen in Milford, Conn., Frank Eltman in Carle Place, N.Y.; Kiley Armstrong; Sara Kugler Frazier, Chris Hawley, Karen Matthews and Ula Ilnytzky in New York; Beth DeFalco in Trenton, N.J.; Dorie Turner, Don Schanche and Errin Haines in Atlanta; Bill Poovey in Chattanooga, Tenn.; and Gary D. Robertson in Raleigh, N.C.