A terrifying winter storm has hit the United States with heavy snow. (File)
New York:
A terrifying winter storm battered the US with heavy snow and strong arctic winds leaving 1.7 million customers without power on Saturday as thousands of flight cancellations left travelers stranded for the last minute. together to celebrate Christmas.
At least 13 hurricane-related deaths have been confirmed across six states as heavy snow, howling winds and dangerously cold temperatures have frozen much of the country, including the normally temperate south. for the third day in a row.
According to tracking website Flightaware.com, the “bomb cyclone” winter storm, one of the fiercest in decades, forced more than 1,900 US flights to be canceled on Saturday, the day after when nearly 6,000 flights were cancelled.
Flight cancellations have stranded travelers at airports including Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Detroit and New York in hopes of a pre-Christmas rebooking miracle.
Travelers like Zack Cuyler, whose flight home to Houston on December 22 was delayed and canceled twice this week, was “quite intrigued” about the chaos.
The 35-year-old New York City man hopes to be home with his family on Christmas Day.
“I’m very happy to see my family for Christmas,” he told AFP.
In hard-hit New York state, Governor Kathy Hochul deployed the National Guard to Erie County and the main city of Buffalo, where authorities said emergency services had essentially collapsed. against severe blizzard conditions.
“There are likely hundreds of people still trapped in vehicles,” said Mark Poloncarz, Erie County Executive Director, early Saturday, adding that the National Guard had sent “immediately to the city of Buffalo to rescue these life-threatening people.”
Ice conditions and power outages have also resulted in the closure of some of the nation’s busiest traffic routes, including Interstate 70, part of which is temporarily closed. closed in Colorado and Kansas.
More than 200 million Americans were warned for the weather Friday as cold winds brought temperatures down to -55 degrees Fahrenheit (-48 degrees Celsius), according to the National Weather Service (NWS).
While the number of people with severe weather warnings dropped significantly on Saturday, authorities still warned of deadly conditions and urged residents to stay indoors.
The bone-chilling cold is the immediate concern of more than 1.7 million electricity customers without electricity, according to tracker poweroutage.us.
Several cities, including North Carolina, have begun rolling out power cuts due to high electricity demand, where in some cases residents are unable to safely heat their homes.
Approaching cold weather
Rosa Falcon, a teacher and school volunteer, told AFP that in El Paso, Texas, desperate migrants from Mexico had gathered to find warmth in churches, schools and civic centres. .
But some people still choose to stay outdoors in the frigid temperatures because they fear being noticed by immigration authorities, she added.
In Chicago, the Burke Patten of Night Ministry, a nonprofit dedicated to helping the homeless, said: “We’ve been distributing cold-weather gear, including coats, hats, gloves, clothing, and more. thermal pads, blankets and sleeping bags, plus hands and feet. heaters.”
The National Weather Service forecast early Saturday that dangerously cold conditions will continue across the central and eastern United States over the weekend before temperatures return to more normal seasonal weather. next week.
In Canada, a number of people are scurrying around with a cold, including stoic last-minute holiday shoppers in downtown Toronto.
Jennifer Campbell, of Caledon, Ontario, told AFP: “I think every few years we get some big storms and we just need to adjust. We’re Canadians, that’s how we do it.”
However, Canadian provinces have issued severe weather warnings. Hundreds of thousands of people lost power in Ontario and Quebec, while many flights were canceled at airports in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal.
Floods, fierce winds
In the United States, transportation departments in several lowland states have reported near-zero visibility, ice-covered roads and blizzard conditions, and strongly urged residents to stay home.
Drivers have been warned not to take to the streets – even as the country reaches its typically busiest time of year for commuting.
By Friday afternoon, the storm had turned into a “bomb cyclone” state after its air pressure dropped rapidly for more than 24 hours.
The cyclone produces heavy rain or snow. They can also cause coastal flooding and create storm surges.
Toronto meteorologist Kelsey McEwen tweeted that waves as high as 26 feet (eight meters) were reported in Lake Erie, while in Ohio’s Fairport Harbor gusts up to 74 miles (120 km) an hour, the NWS reported tweets.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
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