(CNN) Sgt. Jennifer Bruno knew the blizzard battering New England might be brutal.

So as the storm hit, she spent Monday night at a friend's house. When she returned to her coastal home in Marshfield, Massachusetts, Tuesday, she discovered a devastating scene.

Rocks were everywhere, she said.

"Part of the roof collapsed, the wall, my door was missing," she told CNN's AC360. "It was just destroyed."

The Massachusetts National Guard sergeant and Iraq war veteran cried when she caught the first glimpse of what happened. Then she went back inside to get her uniforms, a sword she got in Iraq and a cross with scripture on it that once hung on her wall.

"I've been through a lot, and that was just more than I thought would have happened," she said. "(I'll) just take it one day at a time."

As crews started surveying storm damage and clearing streets, officials warned that the potential for record-setting snowfall remains as stormy weather wallops New England. But Bruno and other residents of coastal areas faced another more menacing threat: storm surge flooding.

'We're not out of this yet'

In Boston, where about 2 feet of snow had fallen, the city's mayor said there was still work to be done.

"We're not out of this yet. We're trying to get ahead of it," Mayor Marty Walsh said. "We just keep plowing."

The hardest-hit area -- Auburn, Massachuetts -- got 32.5 inches of snow. And it hasn't stopped yet.

"This is a very significant storm, and in many parts of Massachusetts, I think, you could call it, in fact, a historic event," Gov. Charlie Baker told reporters.

Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast Dexter Newcomb begins cleanup at his house in Scituate, Massachusetts, on Wednesday, January 28, a day after a winter storm left his neighborhood coated in frozen sea spray and sand. Hide Caption 1 of 38 Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast Cars in Norwood, Massachusetts, sit buried by snow drifts on January 28. The first blizzard of 2015 dumped nearly 3 feet of snow in parts of four Northeastern states. Massachusetts was hit the hardest. Hide Caption 2 of 38 Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast Workers continue snow removal efforts in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston on January 28. Hide Caption 3 of 38 Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast A man battles strong winds in Portland, Maine, on Tuesday, January 27. Hide Caption 4 of 38 Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast A wave slams into a sea wall in Scituate as evening high tide approaches on January 27. Hide Caption 5 of 38 Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast Snow piles up at the entrance of a closed T station in Boston on January 27. The city's public transit system was set to reopen the next day. Hide Caption 6 of 38 Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast U.S. Army soldier Jennifer Bruno carries belongings from her house, center rear, which was heavily damaged by storm surge in Marshfield, Massachusetts. Hide Caption 7 of 38 Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast Icy water floods a street in Scituate on January 27. Hide Caption 8 of 38 Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast Snow clings to a man's face as he shovels a sidewalk in Portland, Maine, on January 27. Hide Caption 9 of 38 Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast A person skis down Memorial Drive in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on January 27. Hide Caption 10 of 38 Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast Plows clear snow off the Long Island Expressway in Melville, New York, on January 27. Hide Caption 11 of 38 Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast Plows line up at airplane gates at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, on January 27. Hide Caption 12 of 38 Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast A worker clears snow in Newtown, Pennsylvania, on January 27. Hide Caption 13 of 38 Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast Workers clear the platform at the Long Island Rail Road station in Glen Head, New York, on January 27. Hide Caption 14 of 38 Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast A man clears his snow-covered car on the Upper West Side in New York City on January 27. Hide Caption 15 of 38 Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast An emergency vehicle drives down a snowy street in Winthrop, Massachusetts, on January 27. Hide Caption 16 of 38 Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast Fishing boats ride out the storm at a dock in Scituate on January 27. Hide Caption 17 of 38 Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast A woman walks her dog as snow swirls around the Bunker Hill Monument in Boston on Monday, January 26. Hide Caption 18 of 38 Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast Snow falls around the Empire State Building in New York on January 26. Hide Caption 19 of 38 Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast People walk through falling snow in Hoboken, New Jersey, on January 26. Hide Caption 20 of 38 Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast Two passengers ride a subway car in New York on January 26. Hide Caption 21 of 38 Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast People look out from office building windows as snow falls in downtown Philadelphia on January 26. Hide Caption 22 of 38 Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast A man stands in front of a screen listing departing flights at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on January 26. Hide Caption 23 of 38 Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast People cross a street covered in snow in New York's Times Square on January 26. Hide Caption 24 of 38 Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast As the snow moves in, residents pick up some last-minute items at King's Highway Stop & Shop in New Bedford, Massachusetts, on January 26. Hide Caption 25 of 38 Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast People walk near Penn Station on New York's Seventh Avenue while a major snowstorm begins on January 26. Hide Caption 26 of 38 Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast A tugboat sails on the East River in New York on January 26. Hide Caption 27 of 38 Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast Travelers wait for their train platform to be announced at New York's Penn Station on January 26. Hide Caption 28 of 38 Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast The New York skyline is seen from Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey, on January 26. Hide Caption 29 of 38 Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast A pedestrian passes through Johnstown Central Park in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, on January 26. Hide Caption 30 of 38 Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast Snow falls on pedestrians in New York on January 26. Hide Caption 31 of 38 Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast A plane is de-iced at New York's LaGuardia Airport on January 26. Thousands of flights were canceled in anticipation of the storm. Hide Caption 32 of 38 Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast A man buys a shovel in Winthrop, Massachusetts, on January 26. Hide Caption 33 of 38 Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast Commuters travel across the Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge into downtown Boston on January 26. Hide Caption 34 of 38 Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast A cyclist in New York navigates between parked cars and a sanitation truck with a snow plow on it on January 26. Hide Caption 35 of 38 Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast Passengers talk with a ticket agent at LaGuardia Airport to try to beat the snowstorm on January 26. Hide Caption 36 of 38 Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast Traffic moves through falling snow near Evans City, Pennsylvania, on January 26. Hide Caption 37 of 38 Photos: Massive storm hammers Northeast A New York City snowplow, loaded with salt, sits in midtown Manhattan as light snow falls on January 26. Hide Caption 38 of 38

On the northern edge of the storm in Maine, Rockland resident Steve DePasa said at 1 p.m. that up to 15 inches of snow was already on the ground, and "we're expected to get another 10 inches."

So what can you do in the meantime, besides pray that the power stays on?

"It's just go out and clean up a little bit so you can," said DePasa, a CNN iReporter . "Then wait a few hours and do it again."

The good news? Most people seemed to have heeded the warnings about the storm, which was forecast as "crippling" and "potentially historic," by stocking up and staying off the roads. If you go through this every year, after all, there's a good chance you'll know the drill.

"During these storms, everybody has to hunker down and just be safe," said Bob Connors from Plum Island, on Massachusetts' North Shore. "We've become pretty proficient at that."

N.Y. mayor: 'We've dodged the bullet'

As the storm approached, Marge Winski hoped for the best.

It's not the first time she's braced for bad weather as the caretaker of a lighthouse in Montauk, New York. Riding out Superstorm Sandy was terrifying, she said. This storm, which packed powerful winds, also had it's scary moments, she said.

"I was just praying I didn't get sick, or the roof didn't blow off," she said. "What was I going to do? You know no one's coming to get you."

But Winski, like many residents of New York and New Jersey, was breathing a sigh of relief on Tuesday.

A day earlier, officials warned the storm could turn 58 million people's lives upside down. Seven states, from New Jersey to New Hampshire, declared states of emergency. School was canceled. Public transit shut down. Businesses closed, suggesting a far-reaching economic impact in one of America's busiest commercial regions.

But by midmorning, snow wasn't even falling in New York City. By then, travel bans in New Jersey and New York -- even places like Long Island's Islip, which got more than 20 inches of snow -- had been lifted.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called all the warning and preparations "a better-safe-than-sorry scenario."

"We've dodged the bullet," he said. "This is nothing like we feared it would be."

But for some in the state, the storm proved dangerous.

A 17-year-old died after he hit something while snow-tubing Monday night in Huntington, New York, Suffolk County's Tim Sini said. An 83-year-old man who suffered from dementia was found frozen to death in his backyard in the same Long Island county.

Blocked in, hunkered down

The forecast even improved for Boston. Once expected to see up to 30 inches of snow, Logan International Airport had received 24.4 inches by midnight Tuesday.

Still, 2 feet of snow isn't anything to scoff at.

Just ask all those who had their cars snowed in, their front doors blocked and their backyards littered with branches Tuesday.

"The worst part is the steady winds, I think they were approaching 50 mph," said Nantucket Police Chief William Pittman.

The entire island, where 15,000 people live, lost power during the storm. But that didn't stop the doctors and nurses at Nantucket Cottage Hospital, where Cayden Keith Moore was born at the height of the blizzard early Tuesday.

JUST WATCHED Baby boy born during Nantucket blizzard Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Baby boy born during Nantucket blizzard 04:55

As she cradled her newborn boy, mom Danielle Smith said she was doing well, thanks to the generator keeping the hospital warm.

"It's definitely better to be here than at home with no power," she said.

Thousands of flights canceled

If you're trying to escape this wintry mess quickly, don't count on it.

Traffic crawled on everything from side roads to highways -- including the Massachusetts Turnpike, which was closed to traffic as of early Tuesday afternoon -- and many public transit systems shut down.

More than 4,700 flights in and out of the United States had been canceled as of 8 p.m. Tuesday, the flight-tracking website Flightaware.com reported. That's on top of 2,800 scrubbed Monday. Hundreds more have already been called off for Wednesday.

From stocking up to snowball fights

The storm warnings seemed to impress even the most jaded Northeasterner, as groceries flew off store shelves from Brooklyn to Bangor.

Shoppers clear the shelves at a Star Market in Boston

Still, it's not like everyone was shaking in their snow boots.

As Steve Nogueira, a retired meteorologist who lives in Taunton, Massachusetts, said, "We've done it before."

In the coastal city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, hundreds accepted a Facebook invitation to a community snowball fight -- one that organizer Devin Murphy joked is in the proud tradition dating back to around 1624, when the city was first settled.

Fresh off snowblowing his driveway, Jim Robins estimated about 2 feet of light, fluffy snow had fallen outside his home in Dover, New Hampshire. That's hardly a dusting, but it's also not surprising when you live in New England.

"Sure, that's a lot, but I have tons of family in Buffalo and they were dealing with 6-10 feet of (snow) at the start of the season," Robins said. "...We will weather this like the New Englanders we are."