Delaware digs out

Delawareans spent the weekend digging out after a massive nor'easter left most of the state buried under more than a foot of snow.

In Newark on Monday, life was returning to normal, though some streets and sidewalks remained slushy.

Students have left the university for the semester, but the snow brought no reprieve to university employees, most of whom have to work through Wednesday. State and county offices opened late on Monday, but the university operated on a normal schedule, thanks to crews who spent the weekend clearing sidewalks and parking lots on campus, officials said.

Most pathways were clear by Monday, but crews worked into the late afternoon removing snow from auxiliary lots.

Snow began falling in Delaware just after midnight Saturday and continued until late Saturday night. According to the National Weather Service, 16 inches fell in the Newark area, making it the region's biggest snowfall since the President's Day storm of 2003.

At the height of the storm Saturday afternoon, up to two inches of snow fell per hour, forecasters said, prompting Gov. Jack Markell to declare a state of emergency in New Castle and Kent counties at 3 p.m. The order, which lasted through noon Sunday, encouraged residents to stay off the roads and mobilized the National Guard to be used for transportation and rescues.

"Our state agencies have been working together to prepare for and combat the effects of this storm," Markell said in a statement. "Remaining off the roads helps them in this effort and is important to public safety."

The storm dumped up to two feet of snow from North Carolina all the way to Massachusetts.