The storm that tormented the East Coast delivered its knockout punch here in the nation’s capital, where almost 200,000 people remained without electricity on Thursday, and disruptions across the metropolitan area caused some of the worst commuting delays on the Eastern Seaboard.

Contending for the title of worst commute was Adam Rosenberg, a communications director for a software company, who spent almost 12 hours driving 50 miles from Dupont Circle in Washington through a landscape of abandoned cars, stuck buses and drivers who had given up and gone to sleep.

Mr. Rosenberg knows traffic. He used to follow the band Phish with hordes of other fans. But nothing could have prepared him for what he saw on Wednesday night. Inclines sowed chaos. Cars spun helplessly and buses slid into other lanes, leaving an obstacle course of paralyzed vehicles."