Whiteout conditions in virginia. 11 states plus washington, d. C. Have now declared snow emergencies. Tonight, coastal communities are flooded, hundreds remain stranded on highways, powow is out in many areas. Planes, trains, and buses are going nowhere. We have a team of reporters coring the storm beginning in new york with marlie hall. Reporter pie 4 00 this afternoon, new york city was on lockdown, no cars allowed or buses and many trains stopped. This is why. Ththe is travel ban in the city until further notice. This is a very big keel. Reporter with 50mileanhour wind and more than two feet of snow and ice, mayor bill de blasio said new yorkers need to listen. People have to take scrr seriously whats going on here and recognize theres a lot of danger and a lot of disruption thats going to occur because of this storm. Reporter just a year ago, the mayor was heavilyriticized and shutting down mass transit for the first time in the 110year history for a storm that turned out to be a bust. But today was different, significantly worse than predicted. Earlier state new york state Governor Andrew Cuomo helped a iver stuck in the s sw. Oncnc the snowfall is over, about three inches per hour, the plows just cant keep up with it. And thats when the situation becomes most dangerous. Reporter already, there have been more than 300 dispens, but none of them fatal. The n. Y. P. D. Threatinned to arrest drivers who dont stay off the roads, soso this one was taking his chances but had second thoughts. We almost got stuck a few times. Reporter so dont follow your example. Do not. Reporter broadway took the remarkable step of cancelling all shows, stranding people who had planned to ride out the storm in a theater, including ticketed holder margo zimmerman. I am nervous on the roads and d safe. Its all good. Reporter bridges and tunnels are als closed. Those who are here in the city right now are here for the night. Many area hotels are offering special snow rates for people who are stranded. Jim. Axelrod marlie hall, thank you. The full moon and high tides have joined forces with the blizzard to flood c cmunities along the jersey shore. At cape may, the morning hig tide was over nine feet breaking the record set during Superstorm Sandy in 2012. Jericka duncan is up the coast in masasquan. Reporter chunks of ice the size of coffee tables flowed down flooded streets in ocean city, one of dozens of towns along the new jersey coastline withthoads shut down by the storm. Officials barnegat issued a mandatory evacuation. Thats when i started getting like how much water are we getting in here . And thats kind of sort of reporter Mantoloking Police chief worried high tides tonight is going to cse flooding. All of the water is going to dump into our side streets. Reporter how many homes are we talking could be impacted . Probably 200. Reporter here in mantoloking, a 45foot wall built after sandy is the only thing between this tremendous surf and these homes. Honestly, we feel a form of poststraumatictress. Theyve rebuilt, right. Theyve come back bigger and stronger and then you have another one at your door. Reporter governor chris christie, who declared a state of emergency friday night, made several stops throughout new jersey today. This is my 17th snow emergency in six years so we know how to do this. Reporter tonight, the road along the masasasan inlet is deserted. Jim, the water behind me is rising by the minute as another high tide moves in. Axelrod Jericka Duncan on the hardhit jersey shore. There is worst places to be snow bound than board a cruise ship. A Royal Caribbean cruisis ship s due t t dock tomorroroat the port of baltimore. That wont be happening until at least monday now. For more on the weather situation in baltimore, lets bring in Mike Hellgren of wjz tv. Mike. Reporter jim, the snow keeps falling and the wind keep whipping here outside the maryland Emergency Command Center where we have seen more than 22 inches of snow making this one of the top 10 wininr storms on record. Even plows had trouble getting through, and the roads remain treacherous across the state. We even saw a modified military vehicle with massive fourfoothigh tires. Of driver tells us he was rescuing plows and fourwheel drive vehicles that got stuck on the Eastern Shore i ithe coastal areas and ocean city, maryland, this has been a flooding event with moderate flooding and some damage. The best advice here is stay axelrod mike, thank you. Moving south, just a ways now to the nations capital, kris van cleave shows us how the blizzard is redefining the idea of washington gridlock. Reporter the trip up a snowowovered hill took a dangerous turn when this c c got stuck and burst into flames. Conditions are treacherous for first responders, even the plows found themselves stuck. And whiteout conditions almost blotted out the washington monument. A dangerous game of chicken played out on city streets pedestrians and drivers cheheing out thee storm competed for space with snow plows and emergency vehicles. Mayor muriel browser there are too many people on the streets, both driving and walking. We need you to stay home. Reporter we found Myles Matteson riding his bike down the middle of 14ing street. Do you think its safe, though, with the carss out and the people out . Definitely avoiding the plows and slowing down and, yeah, just reporter all flights in and out of town are canceled, and mass transit shut down. At logan hardware, they opened their doors. The past couple of days, we sold about 800 shovels. Reporter 800 shovels. Yes, 800. Reporter and theyll need them. This time lapse shows howhe snow filed pooild up. Do you have a sense for the time line of digging out once want snow stops. D. C. Emergency manager chris geldart. Thats a big question right now. Its a big question for us as well. Reporter washington, d. C. Averages 19 opinion 5 inches of snow a year. This storm is on pace to bring that and maybe more inn just one day. Jim, both the secretary of defense and the Vice President were supposed to fly into washington today. Their flights have diverted to florida. Axelrod kris, thank you. As kris just mentioned, the Winter Weather is also creating major disruptions for air travel. So far, more than 10,000 weekend and that includes all flights in and out of philadelphia tonight. Adds can beg reports, philly is expecting up to two feet of snow before the storm is done. Reporter these are basketball players from Duquesne University trying to push their chafter business through t tck snow on the new jersey tururike. They have been stranded since last night. Tom wolf is pennsylvanias governor. Some places two to three inches per hour, and that is making it really, really difficult for us to use all our resources to keep ur roads open. Reporter tonight, there are more than 2,000 trucks plowing nearly 40,000 miles of state highway here. It is an area almost as big as w york, n n jersey, and all off new w gland combined. Overseeing the effort is pin pen secretary of transportation leslie richards. Historically, they were saying this could be the biggest storm weve seen here in 90 years. Reporter outside philadelphia, there have been more than 80 rescues of drivers stuck in snow. Made for a playground with street skiers and sledders. Bernard chanin wants nothing to do with it. Im well beyond the idea of winter wonderland. You know, theres no romance to a blizzard in my mind. Reporter back on the turnpike, Duquesne University has tweeted, it is becoming increasingly unlikely that duquesne will be able to leave the turnpike tonightht prepeping for another nigig on the bus. We have been told that pennsylvanias governor is using the National Guard and every resource hes got to get that team and those people off of that turnpike tonight. In montgomery county, pennsylvania, where we are right now, the measuring stick shows 22 inches. Jim, among the reports of problems in this area, there are ambulances witit patients insidid of them that have actually gotten stuck in the snow. Axelrod David Begnaud up to his knees in it in pennsylvania. Thank you. David mentioned that 85mile stretch of the pennsylvania in both directions. Among those stranded are members of the Temple University womens gymnastics team. Earlier i caughthtp with theirir coach umme saleembeasley. Coach, id ask you hows it going, but i dont think it is going. No. We are stuck here on the pennsylvania turnpike. And we have been here since about 6 15, 6 30 yesterday. Axelrod have you had any Law Enforcement knock on the door of the bus and check ow . Yes. About 6 00 a. M. Thihi morning, they came back again to bring us some water and to check and make sure that everybody was okay. Axelrod youve been at this now nearly 24 hours. Is it still an adventure or is it starting to get a little bit scary . It is getting to the point where were a little bit have a little bit of cabin fever, but weve been watching our movies and rewatchchg thehe so were doioi okay. Axelrod coach umme saleembeasley, who is making lemonade out of lemons. Thank you for being with us. Youre very welcome. Problem throughout the southeast, causing widespread power outages. More than 85,000 people have lost power in North Carolina alone. Mark strassmann is in charlotte. R rorter acrosshe carolinas, more than 7,000 utility workers spent saturday turning the lights back on. Theyre working 16hour shifts and making progress. Right now, this is the of our storm center for the carolinas. Reporter inside duke energys war room, john smiths team coordinates the utilitys emergency response. G gerally, are the outages in clusters . Yes. Theyre in the areas are that were hardest impacted. Any time you have ice on trees, you get a little bit of wind, the tree falls, hit another line, could possibly bring it down. Reporter this map shows the storms path. The dark pink area was the hardest hit. Ice there can be a half inch thick. And whats the challenge in reststing . Well, in restotong right now, one o o our challenges i is just travel. First you have to be able to get is the pole broken, is the wire down or is a limb on a line . Once youve assessed that, then you can go and start the restoration. Reporter duke energy was actually bracing for a worse stom storm. It originally forecast 800,000 peopop would be without power. The worry nowow is h hh w wd, winds up to 40 miles an hour, jim, winds that could keep knocking down power lines and keep those crews working. Axelrod mark strassmann, thank you. Eric fisher is chief meteorologist at wbz in boston. Hes on cape cod for us tonight. Where its apparently bad enough for the goggles. Eric . Reporter jim, it is clearon blizzard conditions here. If its impossible for a storm you talk about all week long to overproduce we might have that tonight, looking at tremendous snow totals, coastal flooding and, of course, here in cape cod it is an extreme winter night. Lets take a look at some of the totals coming in. New york to d. C. , astronomical figures. The latest reports arere as of they only do official reports every six hours. Its been snowing all day, both cities likely to go over 20 inches of snow and come close to the greatest . Orms on record. Huge totals there, even bigger just to the west of d. C. Parts of West Virginia reporting over 40 inches of snow. Closing in on four feet from thisis storm. Now as we head through the overninit hours, very slowly, the storm is now what we call stacked. Its the same low pressure from the surface all wait up. Its slowly going to drift its way out to sea and pull these snow bands farther off towards the east. Finally by tomorrow morning, all the snow will be finally out in of into the atlantic. The other concerns tonight, we have seen wind gusts over 70 miles per hoururp and downhe coast. The strong wind will be continuing into tomorrow morning and finally leaving us here on cape cod as we head into sunday afternoon. Jim air, blizzard that is living up to the name, very similar to what we saw in 1996, one of the most infamous on record. Axelrod eric fisher in the brutal conditions of sandwich, some stations may be leefg us now for local coverage. Coming up for those staying with us, a gas cloud has turned a Los Angeles Neighborhood into a ghost town. Well hear from the gas companys c. E. O. 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Ive been out here almost every day since october 23. I feel totally safe. Reporter arriola says the gas company is close to its more than 8,000 feet down. When we intercept the leaking well, we basically have to hit the size of about a watermelon. We have to be very exact. Reporter once the leak is fixed, the bigger question what to do with the gas . Shut it down reporter people, clearly, want this well and this area as a whole shut down. Theres a lot of emotion and passion out there. Gas storage is an integral pampt our States Energy environment, not just f f naturur gas but for electricity. Reporter so then thats a no, you cant shut it down. What im saying is its necessary to serve the residents that live here, as well as the 21 Million Consumers that we serve throughout all of the los angeles basin. Reporter last week, california congressman brad sherman said the gas Company Needs to get its priorities straight. They may think that this natural gas is an asset. For those of us in porter ranch, we view it as a toxin. Methane is not a toxin. Nausea, headaches, things that are unexplainable by doctors. I mean, it doesnt go away, though. The odorant that people are smelling that is unfortunately causing a lot of this inconvenience is a shortterm issue for people. Once we finish solving the leak and closing the well, the issues go away. Reporter but with constant hearings, the issues facing the gas company wont end any time soon. Mireya villarreal, cbs news, porter ranch. Axelrod up next, another name bland new york billionaire may entertain race for president. Be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. Go talk to your doctor. Nexium 24hr is the new 1 selling frequent heartburn brand in america. I hope you like it spicy get complete protection with the purple pill. The new leader in frequent heartburn. Axelrod nine days now before the Iowa Caucuses and the states leading newspaper, des moines register, is out with its endorsements tonight. Hillary clinton is the papers choice for the democratic nomination. Marco rubio gets the republican endorsement. And today word that former new york city mayor Michael Bloomberg is now considering a run as an independent. Julianna goldman is in washington for us tonight. Julianna, how real is this . Reporter well, jim, heres the thinking behind this. Mike bloomberg feels this campaign has been dominated by the extremes in each party, and he wants to jump in if it looks like the election is going to come down to donald trump or ted cruz versus bernie sanders. Hes not ruling out running against Hillary Clinton if she emerges from iowa and New Hampshire seriously wounded but its an even lesslikely scenario. Bloomberg will do a round of polling after the New Hampshire primary february 9, and from there, hes given himself a deadline for a final decision in early march. Give him enough time to qualify as an independent and get on the ballot in all 50 states. The electoral map would be a huge challenge for him but one area where he is okay is on the money front. Hes indicated hes prepared to spend at least 1 billion. Axelrod Julianna Goldman with a potential new wrinkle in the run for the white house. Thank you. And still ahead, a basic question about storm preparation why the stampede for milk and bread . Es you stock prices, earnings, and dividends. An equity summary score that consolidates the stock ratings of top analysts into a single score. And 7. 95 online u. S. Equity trades, lower than td ameritrade, schwab, and etrade, you realize the smartest investing idea isnt just what you invest in, but who you invest with. When cigarette cravings hit, all i can think about is getting relief. 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Every snowstorm, the first two things that go are bread and milk. Reporter bread orders tripled this winter for store manager scott goldshine. No matter how much we order extra, theyre gone. Just that basic comfort, toast and hot chocolate, concept. Its the first thing that goes quickly so, if i see sort of that scarcity, im always going to grab tjust in case. Reporter which is why bread and milk sales are documented diligently on social media. It has begun, this woman posted. Time to make those milk sandwiches. Reporter our cbs affiliate in washington, d. C. Even came up with a breadometer to show how bad the storm was going to be. Okay, so, on a scale of 110, its going to be a 10. I gotta get the bread and milk. Reporter perhaps nothing compares to the hysteria this comedian created with this satirical video in 2014, generating 14 million views. They said snow i gotta get the bread and milk oh, my god people feel like if theyre stockpiling, theyre safe. Reporter psychotherapist Lisa Brateman said theres a theory for this phenomenon. Whatever is going on outside in the world, whatever is going on outside my door, at least i know i can have eggs and toast tomorrow. Reporter and if you stockpile too much, another tradition that little bit of control goes bad by the time all the snow melts. Jamie yuccas, cbs news, new york. Axelrod finally tonight, a little girl named loose whoa melted our hearts. She couldnt play outside today. Shes at the National Institutes of health in maryland getting a bone marrow transplant. So a nurse brought the snow to lucy. She made a cool little snowman. And thats the cbs evening news later on cbs, 48 hours. For now, im jim axelrod in nene york. For alalof us here at cbs news, thanks for joining us. We leave you with a snow Day Celebration panda style at the national zoo. Good night. Captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by access. Wgbh. Org this is jeopardy here are todays contestants a mechanical design engineer from waynesboro, pennsylvania. A Financial Services officer from raleigh, North Carolina. And our returning champion