NEW YORK (AP) -- Snowplows cleared the way for ambulances and fire trucks in Rhode Island. New York City workers geared up to dump massive basins of warm water on piles of snow and ice.

NEW YORK -- Neighbors, government workers and a powerful railroad snow-clearing machine nicknamed "Darth Vader" scrambled to dig out much of the northeastern United States from a brutal and -- in some areas -- record-breaking storm that blanketed the region with snow and resulted in thousands of flight cancellations.