NEW YORK: A huge snowstorm brought chaos to the United States east coast on Monday, canceling thousands of flights, closing schools and forcing the postponement of coronavirus vaccinations as New York steeled itself for almost two feet (60 centimeters) of snow.

The National Weather Service (NWS) issued storm warnings from Virginia to Maine — home to tens of millions of people — as heavy snowfall mixed with wind gusts up to 50 miles (80 kilometers) per hour spurred blizzard-like conditions along the eastern seaboard.

New York declared a “state of emergency” that restricted non-essential travel, moved all children to remote learning and rescheduled long-awaited vaccine shots as the city braced for possibly one of the heaviest snowfalls in its history. Salt trucks and snow plows moved out across New York’s streets, already quieter than usual due to Covid-19, as Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the few children who had returned to pandemic-era classrooms would also stay at home on Tuesday.

More than 1,500 US flights were canceled — mostly at airports in New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington — disrupting travel that has already been heavily curtailed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Snowfall was expected to continue into Tuesday morning with forecasters predicting 20 inches in total.