How to survive with -15, -30 and even up to -55 felt degrees? Americans are preparing to experience the holidays in freezing cold as much of the country has been hit since Wednesday by a “bomb cyclone”, corresponding to the arrival of freezing cold with the strength of a Category 3 hurricane.
“We had to change all our plans a bit to get ready for Christmas and we all ran to the stores,” Laury Ladhani, a Frenchwoman who lives near Chicago, tells BFMTV.
“we caulk”
On Thursday, the city of Chicago, in the northeast of the country, dropped 37 degrees in 24 hours. “The authorities strongly advise us not to go out, continues the Frenchwoman.
If we go outside, we risk freezing.” Public services are highly mobilized to clear the roads, not because of the importance of these snowfalls but because it turns to ice almost instantly.
“We don’t go out, we caulk ourselves, we put on a lot of heating, explains Laury Ladhani. They advise us to let the water run to prevent the pipes from freezing and above all not to leave the house ”.
As every year, millions of Americans were preparing to take to the highways and airports to reunite with their families during the holiday season. There have already been many traffic accidents and major roads have been closed. Since Wednesday, and as the storm is expected to intensify this weekend, 5,500 flights have been cancelled.
“I don’t know if your boss will leave you, but if you have travel plans, please leave now. It’s not a joke, I asked my staff if you had plans to leave tomorrow, I’ll tell them I said ‘leave now’.” !'” President Joe Biden urged Thursday.
once per generation
This situation is exceptional since the meteorological services estimate that a phenomenon of this type only occurs once in a generation. “Americans are used to preparing but not for this type of cold, in cities like New York or Chicago we are used to going to work when it is -12, -15, we know how to dress, we know how to remove snow, transportation works and there are no power outages”, recalls Rym Montaz, a researcher of American origin.
75% of the country is expected to experience freezing temperatures and -55 degrees is expected in the Great Plains region. The Midwest and the Great Lakes region will be hit particularly hard this weekend, with blizzards. “What will happen to the electrical network, to the water pipes?” he asks.
Source: BFM TV
