The latest storm to slam into the Maritimes has created huge delays and backlogs across the region, especially with travel and medical care. The process of getting caught up began today, and is expected to carry on for days, in some cases, weeks to come.

At Halifax Stanfield International Airport, arrival and departure screens are lit up in orange and red, with many fatigued and frustrated passengers walking the halls.

Brenda Armstrong has spent three days and lots of money trying to get to Yarmouth from Edmonton; her son-in-law has been stranded in a Halifax hotel since Sunday.

“He came to Halifax on Sunday, trying to get ahead of the storm so that he could bring us home, but he’s had to stay in a hotel here for two nights, because he couldn’t get back,” says Armstrong.

The blizzard piled up snow where aircraft pull up to the terminal, and they’re still clearing it away, trying to open up more gates.

Airport managers were not available to speak on-camera Tuesday, but they are calling it a “recovery day,” meaning things won’t return to normal until Wednesday.

At Halifax’s IWK Hospital, many staff members have stayed in the building over the last couple of days.

“We got about 60 - 70% of our surgeries done in both children’s and women’s on Monday and today,” says Dr. Krista Jangaard, VP of Medicine at the IWK.

Ambulatory clinics were cancelled yesterday and today.

“We usually have 950 – 1,000 ambulatory visits, we don’t know exactly how many will have to be re-booked, but we’ll be looking at that the next couple days, and on a priority basis,” says Dr. Jangaard.

Dr. Jangaard said many parents were planning ahead before the storm.

“Before the storm hit, that 24-hour period on Sunday was our busiest ever time in our pediatric emergency, biggest number of visits,” says Dr. Jangaard.

No elective surgeries were performed at other area hospitals over the last two days. Some outpatient clinics were in operation this afternoon, and the surgical schedule is expected to be back to normal tomorrow.

Over the next few days, staff at hospitals around the province will be reviewing appointment and surgery schedules in an effort to get caught up, but at this point, they say they have no idea how long that will take.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Ron Shaw.