[John Berman, Cnn Anchor:] The big clean-up begins. Cities along the East Coast this morning struggling to return to normal after the monster winter storm. A lot of people this morning expecting a messy commute. We will tell you what you need to know ahead.
[Christine Romans, Cnn Anchor:] One week to Iowa. The candidates out in force trying to sway voters with just seven days until the first real test. Tonight, the Democrats sound off on a CNN town hall event. How will it shake up the race? Good morning. And welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
[Berman:] I'm John Berman. Nice to see you. It is Monday, January 25th, 4:00 a.m. in the East. And millions of Americans digging out this morning from one of the biggest snow storms the eastern U.S. has ever seen. A whole lot of people facing a daunting commute with officials warning of icy roads, not to mention reduced bus, train and plane service. This morning about 1200 flights have been canceled so far. At least 16 people have died due to the storm and that figure is likely to rise. The snowfall totals came in at record levels or close up and down the East Coast. Glengarry, West Virginia, got the worst of it with 42 inches. New York, 26.8 inches. And you know what, New York wasn't even expecting nearly that much.
[Romans:] No.
[Berman:] The second biggest snowstorm in the city's history. Washington about 22.4 inches. Commuters in the New York are looking at a tough morning. This morning the MTA says it will have service restored only on the seven busiest branches of the Long Island railroad. CNN's Ryan Young is at Penn Station with more on the New York cleanup.
[Ryan Young, Cnn Correspondent:] John and Christine, 26.8 inches fell here in New York City. And you look all around the city, you can see the big burns of snow every single where. In fact, one of the places we're standing is here outside Penn Station. That's where the Long Island rail was shut down for some time. We do know 80 percent of the service will resume Monday morning for those commuters. 300,000 people use that rail line. It's all a part of the city getting itself back to normal. Now we drove in from New Jersey. One of the things that we noticed is, most of the roadways were clear. And in fact, it was very easy to get around most of the major intersections of the city. But all along the side streets, people were dealing with what you know that they were dealing with, which is that heavy inches of snow all over the place. It's going to be a long cleanup effort all up and down throughout New York City. That's something that we'll be watching and paying attention to John and Christine.
[Berman:] All right, Ryan. What about the nation's capital? Hit very hard. Roads still being plowed in Washington, D.C., Virginia, Maryland. Federal government offices and schools in the region all closed today. The D.C. Metro system will be running but on a reduced schedule. For the latest from Washington, let's bring in CNN's Jennifer Gray.
[Jennifer Gray, Ams Correspondent:] John and Christine, day two of the big dig is beginning today and we have a lot of snow still to clean up. The crews have been out all night long on the roads trying to get them clear and I can tell you, Pennsylvania Avenue even has a stack of snow on top of it. However, some of the major roads, a lot of the major arteries are getting plowed, are getting cleared, but even in the downtown area, some of these roads are still not. So that's part of the reason school was canceled again today. City of D.C., government office as well as the federal government closed down today as well. It's just going to take time to get the city back up and running. On top of that, we had a beautiful day on Sunday. Blue skies, temperatures got above freezing. We had a little bit of melting going on so it is going to be very dangerous, the morning commute. We're going to have a lot of black ice and so again that's another reason why they cancelled school as well as those government offices. So it is going to take a while to get the city back up and running. We've been talking about these incredible snowfall totals. Dulles ranked number two as the snowiest snowstorm ever. Reagan ranked number four and so the storm definitely lived up to the hype. This was epic here across the nation's capital. Still a quiet scene in D.C. for the next couple of days John and Christine.
[Romans:] All right. Thanks so much for that. Philadelphia lifted its snow emergency overnight giving drivers a few more options with their cars once they clear off the nearly two feet of snow. Still public schools are closed which the mayor says will give the city the chance to restore roads to a blacktop. And traffic is moving along the Pennsylvania turnpike this morning after a collision between two tractor-trailers brought the roadway and about 500 vehicles to a standstill over the weekend. CNN's Sara Ganim is in Philadelphia for us and have more.
[Sara Ganim, Cnn Correspondent:] John and Christine, the Pennsylvania Turnpike director apologizing after what he calls a tragic situation. Motorists struck for more than 20 hours on the Pennsylvania Turnpike during a seven-mile backlog caused by tractor-trailers that got stuck in the snow. A review underway. Meanwhile in York, Pennsylvania, an airplane hangar collapsed under the weight of the snow after the state got somewhere between 20 and 30 inches in some areas. Here in Philadelphia, where they got 20 inches of snow, the fourth largest storm on record, schools will remain closed today as city officials clean up, hauling away snow into dump trucks then bringing it to snowmelters to get rid of it. And as you can see students and kids who have been cooped up all weekend inside because of the blizzard, releasing some of that buildup energy here on the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum. Sliding down the rocky steps, enjoying the storm now that it is over, enjoying what is left as city officials continue that clean up here in Philadelphia John and Christine.
[Berman:] Oh, man. That looks like a lot of fun actually right there.
[Romans:] Having fun, right?
[Berman:] All right. So what is in store for today? When will this all melt? Let's bring in meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.
[Pedram Javaheri, Ams Meteorologist:] Good morning, John and Christine.
[Javaheri:] Let's send it back to you.
[Berman:] All right, Pedram. So it's not going anywhere. We want to take a look at it from outer space or at least as a drone flies over it.
[Romans:] Gorgeous.
[Berman:] Technology. This is a drone flying over I don't know. Is this Staten Island?
[Romans:] Staten Island, I guess.
[Berman:] Staten Island, very, very pretty. It looks so nice when it's not getting in the way of your commute or your walk where you don't have to shovel it.
[Romans:] It's beautiful when it's not at the end of your shovel. You're right.
[Berman:] Exactly.
[Romans:] Gorgeous. All right. Be safe out there, everybody. Time for an EARLY START on your money this morning. The weekend's blizzard is going to be a costly one. Early estimates for the cost between $350 million and $700 million. That includes lost spending as people hunkered down at home, lost wages, restaurants missed out on revenue, and snow cleanup costs money. For example, cleaning up snow in New York City costs an estimated $1.8 million per inch. So that adds up. Some good news, though, this is the first big snowstorm of the year. A whole season of wild weather wild winter weather is what really could make a dent in the economy. Experts say this isn't even close to the economic damage we saw during that cold wave. Remember in 2014, the cost of that up to $15 billion and first quarter GDP, actually it hit GDP, remember that, because of the storm? Because the cold weather lasted much longer and affected a larger area. This is very late in the season. The first big snowstorm for the northeast. Very late in the season. But $1.8 million an inch in New York City. Think of that.
[Berman:] That's a lot of money.
[Romans:] Sure is. All right. A pivotal day in Iowa. The CNN town hall. Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, on the same stage for the last time before Iowans cast their votes in just one week. We are in Des Moines in just moments.