Instead of cancelling the flight and/or rebooking us on other airlines before the airport closed, they had us sit in at the gate until 3AM constantly telling us that the engineers are looking at the plane and are fixing the problem and it would be another 20 minutes. EK wouldn't tell us the actual problem, we found out from grounds crew members that passed by the gate.
Sounds like this is the core issue: lack of transpareny/organization/communication at outstations. Just because the ground staff are contract staff, it shouldn't mean that they are incapable of handling situations like this.
They had a similar screw-up during the "superstorm" - so many flights were cancelled, and the roads and public transport in NYC were shut down, but for some reason EK thought that not cancelling would be a good idea.
Unfortunately, I'm not sure if DOT rules will entitle you to compensation in your case.
Just curious - Was the crew at the airport, as well?