Spring Blizzard Blankets Rockies

Flights Canceled, Travelers Stranded, Power Out After Snowfall

(CBS/AP)  Travelers slept in airport corridors, truck drivers remained stranded and Denver-area commuters expected a snowy morning rush hour as a spring blizzard continued to pound parts of Colorado early Monday.

The storm dumped up to two feet of heavy, wet snow Sunday along the heavily populated Front Range east of the mountains, virtually shutting down Denver International Airport and cutting off power to thousands of homes and businesses Sunday.

United Airlines, the largest carrier at the airport, American Airlines and Delta Air Lines canceled all flights Sunday, while Northwest Airlines reported some delays. Frontier Airlines canceled more than 150 flights before resuming departures at 5 p.m.

United told Denver International Airport authorities it intended to run a full schedule on Monday.

Still Denver Department of Aviation spokesman Steve Snyder, in a recorded telephone message, advised travelers not to come to the airport without checking first with their airlines.

"The first few hours this morning will probably be a little rough as we try to play catch-up with the storm," Snyder said. "Certainly it will not be a normal day of operations."

Alister Cleland was among hundreds of people stranded at the airport. Cleland and his family were trying to get home to Durham, England, after spending a week at the Beaver Creek ski resort near Vail.

"We liked the snow there, but there's too much here," Cleland said as his 7-year-old twin boys, Rauridh and Euan, passed the time playing electronic video games.

Other travelers watched personal DVD players or stretched out on couches and the floor, using coats for pillows. Several hundred waited in slow-moving lines at fast-food restaurants in the terminal as the wind howled outside.