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CHICAGO - A LATE winter snowstorm buried a large part of the US midwestern United States, shutting down highways and stranding air travellers across the region, according to news reports Sunday.
More than 51 centimetres of snow on fell on Ohio's capital city of Columbus in the winter storm that began on Friday and did not ease off until early Sunday.
Ohio's main newspaper The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported blizzard conditions in some areas leading to low visibility and hazardous driving conditions.
Treacherous roads prompted officials to bar all but emergency vehicles in some localities while the inclement weather led to a chain reaction of flight delays felt clear across the United States.
The storm, which rolled in on Friday, broke the previous snowfall record in Ohio's capital city of Columbus, 38 centimetres set in February 1910, the weather service said.
The Ohio cities of Cincinnati and Cleveland each received about 30 centimetres of snow.
The storm eventually swept eastward, battering the northeastern states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey and unleashing violent thunderstorms that left tens of thousands without power.
As much as 46 centimetres of snow fell in parts in the southern state of Arkansas, while parts of Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee got up to 30 centimetres of snow, the weather officials said. -- AFP
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