A massive snowstorm has pummelled the northeast United States, with residents, municipal workers, and a powerful railroad snow-clearing machine nicknamed “Darth Vader” working tirelessly to excavate the region.

The storm – record-breaking in some areas – forced millions of people to stay home, shut schools and caused the cancellation of thousands of flights on Monday.

The weather event, which meteorologists described as the most powerful in a decade, left more than 24 inches (61cm) of snow in parts of the northeast US. By Tuesday, authorities began reopening roads, restoring mass transit in certain cities, and reinstating power to portions of the hundreds of thousands of residents who had lost electricity across the states of Massachusetts, New Jersey, Delaware and Rhode Island.

In New York, where classes were cancelled on Monday, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced that schools would resume in-person instruction on Tuesday – a decision that led to concerns about feasibility, given the snow-clogged pavements.

More than 2,000 flights to and from the US were cancelled on Tuesday, according to FlightAware, with the majority of disruptions occurring at airports in New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts.

Rhode Island’s TF Green international airport halted operations on Monday after receiving nearly 38 inches (97cm) of snow, surpassing a 1978 record.

New York’s Central Park recorded 19 inches (48cm) of snowfall, while it measured more than 36 inches (91cm) in Warwick, Rhode Island – the highest total in the nation. Nantucket in Massachusetts experienced the strongest wind gust, recorded at 134km/h (83mph), with hurricane-force gusts reported across Cape Cod.

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Emergency declarations were issued in New York, Philadelphia and several other cities and states.

The Boston Globe daily suspended its print publication for the first time in more than 150 years, as snow and wind made it unsafe for staff to reach the printing facility.

Monday’s event was characterised by meteorologists as a “classic bomb cyclone”, which occurs when a storm’s pressure drops significantly within 24 hours, often during the autumn and winter seasons when Arctic air masses collide with warmer temperatures.

As snowfall subsided in some regions and shifted northwards on Tuesday, the National Weather Service said it was monitoring a new storm system that may bring more snowfall to the region later in the week.