Winter storm paralyzes eastern US

It might be pretty to look at.... but the heavy snow and ice that blanketed parts of U.S. are causing headaches for residents up and down the east coast.

Winter weary parents are doing their best to cope with weather related school and day care closures.... while school administrators are working out how to extend the school year to make up for lost days.

Travel is a major dilemma with highways and roads covered in snow and ice... up to 18 inches in some places. Snow plows can barely get through the accumulation fast enough.

And power outages from ice storms and downed lines have left hundreds of thousands of people without electricity.

From Connecticut to Washington DC federal and state government offices have been closed.

The storm system, which has dumped heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain from eastern Texas to the Carolinas before moving north was blamed for at least 15 deaths in the South.