At least 34 people died from storm “Elliot” in the United States, a number that is expected to rise in the coming days, as many houses are submerged by snow and tens of thousands of homes and businesses lost power.
The storm’s expression has been almost unprecedented, stretching from the Great Lakes near Canada to the Rio Grande River along the Mexican border.
About 60% of the US population faced some type of weather warning and temperatures dropped sharply below normal from the Rocky Mountains east to the Appalachians, according to the National Weather Service.
Thousands of travelers were left on the ground as a result of the close to two thousand flight cancellations, confirmed and expected, due to the ‘bomb cyclone’ -a phenomenon related to a rapid drop in atmospheric pressure in a strong storm- that developed in the Great Lakes region.
A total of 1,707 domestic and international flights have been canceled since the storm began, according to the FlightAware tracking website.
The storm was particularly intense in Buffalo, a city in upstate New York, with cyclonic winds and snowfall crippling emergency response efforts.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said nearly all of the city’s fire trucks were stranded on Saturday.
However, the storm, generated by an arctic air front, began to abate today after bringing freezing temperatures from Canada to Texas in its path, as well as heavy snowfall and strong winds that affected the electrical system and aviation. As of this morning, some 200,000 homes and offices were still without power.
In several cities on the East Coast and even in Florida, thermometers are reaching lows not seen since Christmas 1983.
The storm moved slowly eastward today as it weakened, though temperatures remained freezing and below normal in the eastern, central, and southern parts of the country.
Source: TSF
