After New York City witnessed dystopian orange skies caused by increased pollution levels, smoke emanating from Canadian wildfires has now engulfed Washington DC in an unhealthy haze, prompting many residents of the US capital to stay indoors. A Washington resident said the 'city looked liked a ghost town' in the wake of the pollution crisis. The city saw light traffic and trains were less crowded than usual as many companies in the city told employees to work from home. Some non-essential municipal services were suspended, including parks and recreation, road construction, and waste collection, Reuters reported.
Washington resident Marvin Binnick said watching the wildfire smoke roll into the nation's capital from his 12th-floor apartment was surreal.
"This is supposed to be a typical sunny day, but I can't see the sky or sun or anything," he said. He was sent home from his customer service job early on Thursday. "Normally DC is pretty popping - but on my way to work and on my way home today, it looked like a ghost town."
The increased pollution levels compelled the Washington Nationals baseball team to call off its home game, while the National Zoo shut down for the day. The Biden administration postponed its Pride Month event, which had been expected to be the largest celebration for LGBTQ+ people in the White House's history, the news agency reported.
It was the worst case of wildfire smoke blanketing the US Northeast in more than 20 years, according to private forecasting service AccuWeather.
Millions of Americans have been advised to try and stay to avoid respiratory issues and other health problems that could arise due to the high levels of fine particulates in the atmosphere.
Government data showed air quality readings above the "hazardous" level in Washington on Thursday morning.
In New York City, the air quality health advisory has now been extended till midnight Friday, tweeted the mayor as apocalyptic smog continued to smother the financial capital of the US. The advisory states that the wildfires in Canada have deteriorated the air quality in New York.
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