Travelers stymied by storm

>>> witt. the storm is blamed for ten deaths across the region, including an 11-year-old boston boy who died from carbon monoxide poisoning. he was just trying to keep warm inside a car with a blocked wind pipe. hundreds of abandoned cars are blocking snow plows rushing to clear the roads ahead of the work week. nbc's ron mot is there for us in boston . we begin with nbc's michelle franzen , who's live at laguardia airport . let's get to the travel problems with you, michelle. are they improving?

>> reporter: they are improving, alex. this is probably one of the best days since the storm blew in here and buried areas of snow. we're at laguardia. people filing through here most of the day. a handful of cancellations here at the airport. overall, just fewer than 600 airports around the country. that is a far cry from the last few days. air travel as well as road travel frozen in time. the monster storm blizzard literally stopped vehicles in their tracks.

>> snow all over the place.

>> reporter: along the long island expressway and ramps, frustration and a trail of scattered vehicles. some remain abandoned in drifts.

>> how do i get out of this mess?

>> reporter: dozens of drivers had to be rescued after spending part or all night in bone-chilling temperatures. in connecticut and rhode island , phones are finally open this morning after crews plowed the 30-plus inches of snowfall.

>> we had no snow for multiple years. everybody forgot how to drive in it. now that we finally get it, nobody know how to drive in it or manage it.

>> reporter: crews cleared snow from the tracks, but so far amtrak is not resuming normal service between amtrak and boston . meanwhile, it could take days before air travel gets back to normal. airlines cancelled more than 5,000 flights this past week. the bulk, over 3,200, were cancelled on friday, and another 2,000 cancelled on saturday. stranded passengers waited it out as airlines tried to make up for a backlog of grounded flights.

>> we get stuck, we're actually going to go to a hotel and just spend the night in new york again and go have fun, i guess.

>> reporter: and they're going to continue to work through that backlog of flights, alex. hundreds and thousands of them, and these airports affected. the good news, laguardia says things, operations are back to normal today. they should get a pretty good jump heading into this busy week before this next storm hits us.

>> sounds like a busy week. we'll take it, michelle. let's