[Fredricka Whitfield, Cnn Anchor:] Hello, everyone. And thank you for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. You are in the NEWSROOM. The East Coast is digging out of record-breaking snowfall from Tennessee to New York. And many major airports are bracing for a travel nightmare in its aftermath. Airlines in New Jersey and New York are already cancelling some Monday flights. And D.C. area airports are at a standstill. Runways still buried and operations are shut down. It will be a series of messy days to follow. Backups and delays after widespread cancellations left thousands of passengers stranded throughout the region. Dangerous icy roads are beginning to reopen in some places, though, driving is being highly discouraged in the cities hardest hit. The death toll from this storm rose to 14 overnight. And massive snow melt is putting parts of coastal New Jersey under flood warnings now. One resident sent us this video of waist-deep water overtaking his business. The cleanup is just beginning. And this overnight time lapse video from a viewer in Maryland showing the rapid snow accumulation there. Baltimore broke its snowfall record after getting slammed with 29 inches of snow. And in Washington, look at these amazing photos of Arlington cemetery. Headstones just barely peeking over the thick, white blanket of snow. And Philadelphia got more than 22 inches in two days. That's as much as the city typically gets in an entire season. And in New York, utility workers and snowplows are attempting to clear the roads for Monday's commute. But some New Yorkers are already getting out. But some people are actually enjoying it very much today. Let's get to Poppy Harlow who is in Manhattan there. And you see that some of the sidewalks are cleared off. People are definitely not letting the snow stop them.
[Poppy Harlow, Cnn Correspondent:] Not at all. I mean, it is actually a glorious day in New York City. The sun is shining. A lot of the streets are clear, Fred. What a difference 12, 24 hours can make as they do the big dig here in New York City. Look. You've still got a lot of headaches here for travelers. You have 85 percent of flights out of LaGuardia canceled today, 50 percent out of JFK. That huge international airport are canceled. But you are seeing things reopening. Broadway back on track, back open today after shuttering last night. You've got a lot of restaurants, hotels, everything like that is back to normal. The governor, though, Andrew Cuomo, saying we are not out of the woods yet. The big headache right now is for people that rely on the Long Island railroad to get in and out of the city. That is still completely shuttered. They are having issues getting it back online ahead of the Monday commute. No idea when that is going back online. So I think that's the biggest headache. All the subways still running above ground and underground and now in New York City. Let's go to check on how things look around the city. I want to go to Chad Myers, our meteorologist, in Times Square. My friend, I bet you the tourists are out in force.
[Chad Myers, Ams Meteorologist:] They are. From their bummer day yesterday when they got all their things canceled on them, the Broadway shows and the opera and all that, to now we have traffic again, traffic and honking as far as you can see. So we are back. Now you have to understand the snow only stopped 12 hours ago. A record snowfall for the day ever in New York City and we're moving again. Very few cities in the world can do this. But the smells are back, Poppy. You have the burning pretzel. You have the hot dogs. You have little halal food. The food stands are back. That's what we were missing last night. New York didn't smell right last night. But now it is now it's looking good. Hey. How you doing? We're live on CNN. How did the storm affect you?
[Unidentified Male:] Well, I live in a condo so not too much.
[Myers:] You just went up and down.
[Unidentified Male:] Doorman came down and shoveled everything. Had enough food for a week.
[Myers:] Ever seen know snow like this before?
[Unidentified Male:] I think back in ninety
[Myers:] You were here?
[Unidentified Male:] Yes.
[Myers:] So was it this bad? Was it this bit of clean up this fast?
[Unidentified Male:] No. It's pretty incredible.
[Myers:] Yes. This is really is pretty amazing. All right. Thanks very much for your time. Yes, I think everybody here is looking at the sidewalks, looking at the streets and going, I can't believe we are up and running again. But we are Poppy.
[Harlow:] We are. And you know what, Chad, the schools all reopen tomorrow. So for my niece and nephew here who are hoping to get a day off of school, that's not happening for them. Chad Myers, thank you so much. Enjoy it out there. It is a lovely day here in New York City. I want to take you to Ryan Young. He is at Penn station. And Ryan, this is where the headache comes many. Because I cannot tell you you probably know how many millions of people rely on the Long Island railroad and right now, no dice. [14:05:109]
[Ryan Young, Cnn Correspondent:] Yes. No dice so far. We know that 2000 worth, we have been trying to work to rectify this issue. We actually drove in from New Jersey this morning. I can tell you the roadways were clear to get here to New York City. And as we have been driving around the city so far. Yes, people are slowing down and having to deal with those mounds, but you have to think about those workers who were working behind us to try to get this Long Island railroad back together. That Monday morning commute is something so many will be concerned with. Three hundred thousand people depend on this to get to work and school and everything in the morning. So you can understand with all the snow this week and all the cabin fever that people are going to want to get in. In fact, the governor talked about it earlier this afternoon.
[Mayor Bill De Blasio , New York:] First of all, do not drive if you don't have to unless it's really urgent. We want people to stay off the streets. We want people to keep their cars where they're parked. It is very important to recognize. There's a lot of work being done to get the city up and running for Monday. We need people off the streets for their own safety. We need people off the streets for the safety of others. We need them off the streets so sanitation can clear the streets. We need you off the streets so our first responders have the freedom to get to emergencies.
[Young:] And that's actually New York's mayor talking. Hopefully my brain is not as log-jammed as the railroad tracks here. But look. They are trying to get it back open so people can get to work on Monday morning. You obviously understand that as they try to negotiate the road around here, people seems so far seem to have patience. Little hawking going on, but that's just New York City Poppy.
[Harlow:] Do we know why it is that the Long Island railroad, Ryan, is having such a hard time getting back online? I believe, and correct me if I'm wrong, New Jersey transit is running.
[Young:] Well, they said that because the lines are exposed, of course with all that snow that comes down, someone's got to clear it all so they're working to get that done. That's the explanation that we heard earlier. But of course, we made those calls to figure out just in terms of maybe any technical issues they may be having along the way. They want those lines open and safe for everybody to get to work on Monday.
[Harlow:] Yes, no question. And get there safely. All right. Ryan Young, thank you so much. I want to take you now to my friend Jason Carroll in Central Park, who has had right, Jason, if you have to cover a blizzard you kind of got the best assignment.
[Jason Carroll, Cnn National Correspondent:] Well, I would say so because you're out here with people who are in a good mood, who are having a lot of fun, taking a few risks, if you don't mind me saying. If you take a look at here, you can see this is the hill where everyone's been packing themselves into here at central park where we actually broke a record. 26.8 inches of snow measured here, Poppy. As you know, that is the second largest snowfall recorded in New York City's history. Everyone coming out here doing what they can. Some not doing so well. These are some of the casualties coming out here and going too fast on the hills. But the Kaufmans are going to brave the hill anyway. They are out here. You didn't drive here, actually. You kind of drove here. You Ubered here, correct?
[Unidentified Male:] Yes. That's driving in the city.
[Carroll:] How were the roads?
[Unidentified Male:] Rush a lot of snow, but they did a pretty good job plowing. So, no trouble getting over here.
[Carroll:] And what's your assessment so far of how the city did? How they are fared? I mean, it seems from our point of view, and I'm told in some ways that the streets seemed to be plowed pretty well, lots of salt out there.
[Unidentified Male:] Yes. I think they did a pretty good job. You never know what you're going to get but got a lot of snow and they cleared the streets and here we are.
[Carroll:] No. We know he is out here also, Poppy, with his daughter and her friend. They also have a few of their new closest friends behind them. You guys have been looking forward to this since yesterday, yes?
[Unidentified Female:] Yes.
[Carroll:] So have you taken a ride down so far?
[Unidentified Female:] Yes.
[Carroll:] Fast, slow?
[Unidentified Female:] Very fast.
[Carroll:] I have to ask you something because I'm looking at this and maybe I'm old school, but I don't see a brake on here or even any sort of method of steering. So when you are going down there on that hill, how do you prevent yourself from crashing into someone?
[Unidentified Female:] You don't. You just breathe.
[Carroll:] OK. Well, have at it. Good luck. And I'm sure there are a lot of attorneys here on this hill as well in case you need one later. All right, guys. Thanks very much. Be well. So again, Poppy. Everyone out here trying to do what they can to enjoy every inch of this snow. A lot of these folks were thinking about telling us that, you know, telling us they were trying to take the subway up here. I know you were talking about travel as well. I want to point out there are still delays on some of those subways as well. We experienced that this morning. So anyone watching this trying to get around the city, realize it's still very much slow go Poppy.
[Harlow:] Jason, I have to tell you, last night after we were on live with you with the revelers and the people building the snowman in the middle of Eighth Avenue, I got a lot of angry tweets. People were mad at me for telling them to go home and be safe. So everyone, go outside today. Have fun. Right, Jason?
[Carroll:] Slowly. As long as you do it slowly. Then yes, go have some fun.
[Harlow:] Go have some fun. Jason Carroll, thank you so much. Fredricka, I will send it back to you. But Fred, interesting fact here. 26.8 inches of snow yesterday in New York City. We missed the record, Fred, by 0.1 inch.
[Whitfield:] Oh my goodness.
[Harlow:] 26.9 inches back in 2006. So I guess we need to get dumped on again to get a record.
[Whitfield:] Well, I'm sure nobody really wants that to happen.
[Harlow:] Right.
[Whitfield:] But you know, at this point it's just about pacing oneself, right?
[Harlow:] Exactly.
[Whitfield:] All right. Thanks, Poppy. We will see you again momentarily. Meantime, the cleanup a different story in New Jersey. The storm brought significant flooding to parts of the garden state. Our Boris Sanchez is there. How's it looking?
[Boris Sanchez, Cnn Correspondent:] Hey, Fred. The cleanup is under way. This looks significantly different than it did just two hours ago when this road was totally impassable. We are going to give you a look at the cleanup and talk to some neighbors to see how they are doing right after this.