Nearly 1.5 million American homes were without power on Friday due to a rare winter storm, which caused transportation chaos on Christmas Eve, with thousands of flights canceled and roads that have become impassable at times. .
On Friday morning, more than 240 million people were affected by warnings or cautionary calls in the United States, the United States Weather Service (NWS) wrote, calling the storm “historic.” This represents more than 70% of the population.
In much of the country, conditions had become too dangerous to travel. But millions of Americans flooded the highways and airports during the holiday season.
In the state of New York, a travel ban has been issued in Erie County. “We stay at home (…) I can’t see across the street” because of the snow, said Jennifer Orlando, affected by this ban in the city of Hamburg.
impressive scale
Nearly 1.5 million homes lost power on Friday at noon, mostly in North Carolina, Maine and Virginia, according to the specialized site Poweroutage.us.
The storm was particularly impressive in its magnitude, stretching from the Canadian border in the north to the Mexican border in the south.
Temperatures were thus negative as far as the Texas coast, although many immigrants from Mexico found themselves in difficult conditions there.
In El Paso, shelters have been opened so they can protect themselves from the risk of hypothermia. But “many people don’t want to get on the buses to go to the shelters for fear of being deported,” said volunteer Rosa Falcón, 56.
Some of them had to dismantle their tents by order of the authorities, and “simply sleep wrapped in blankets,” she said regretfully.
State of emergency declared in some states
On Friday afternoon, the specialized site Flightaware had more than 4,500 canceled flights in the United States, with the most affected airports being those of Seattle, New York, Chicago or Detroit.
Several states have declared states of emergency, including New York, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Georgia, and North Carolina.
“People should stay home, not venture out on the roads,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear told CNN Friday morning. “Your family wants to see you home for Christmas, but most of all they want to see you alive.”
Because of the snow and strong winds, “blizzard conditions can develop very quickly,” he said, adding that the National Guard had been deployed to the state.
He confirmed that three people had been killed on Kentucky highways. In Oklahoma, at least two people died on the road, according to the agency in charge of emergency management in that state.
“We are seeing incredibly strong, dangerous and life-threatening winds” as well as “blinding snowstorms,” New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul said Friday.
“The roads are going to be like ice rinks,” and this until the weekend, he warned.
Source: BFM TV
