New Delhi: Millions of Americans bore bone-chilling temperatures, blizzard conditions, power outages, and cancelled holiday gatherings on Friday because of a winter storm that forecasters said was nearly unprecedented in its scope, exposing about 60% of the U.S. population to some sort of winter weather advisory or warning, as reported by news agency AP.
According to the National Weather Service, more than 200 million people were under an advisory or warning on Friday. The weather service’s map “depicts one of the greatest extents of winter weather warnings and advisories ever,” forecasters said, AP reported.
Power Outages Leave 1.4 Million Homes And Businesses In Dark
According to the website PowerOutage, which tracks utility reports, about 1.4 million homes and businesses are in the dark because of power outages. The Tennessee Valley Authority, the nation’s largest public utility, ended its rolling blackouts Friday afternoon but continued to urge homes and businesses to conserve power. Hundreds of people in Atlanta and northern parts of the state were left without power and were faced with the possibility of sub-zero wind chills without heat In Georgia.
Nearly 5,000 Flights Cancelled As Bomb Cyclone Sweeps US
Nearly 5,000 flights within, into, or out of the U.S. were cancelled on Friday, as reported by AP. This led to more mayhem as travellers were trying to make it to their homes for the holidays. “We’ve just got to stay positive,” said Wendell Davis, who plays basketball with a team in France and was waiting at O’Hare in Chicago on Friday after a series of flight cancellations, as quoted by AP.
The huge storm stretched from border to border. In Canada, WestJet cancelled all flights on Friday at Toronto Pearson International Airport, beginning at 9 a.m. as meteorologists in the country warned of a potential once-in-a-decade weather event, AP reported. According to the news agency, In Mexico, migrants waited near the U.S. border in unusually cold temperatures as they awaited a U.S. Supreme Court decision on whether and when to lift pandemic-era restrictions that prevent many from seeking asylum. A bomb cyclone occurs when atmospheric pressure drops very quickly in a strong storm — had developed near the Great Lakes, stirring up blizzard conditions, including heavy winds and snow, AP reported citing forecasters.
Multiple highways were closed and crashes claimed at least six lives, AP reported citing officials. At least two people died in a massive pileup that involved some 50 vehicles on the Ohio Turnpike. A Kansas City, Missouri, the driver was killed on Thursday after skidding into a creek, and three others died on Wednesday in separate crashes on icy northern Kansas roads. Michigan also faced a deluge of crashes, including one involving nine semitrailers.
Brent Whitehead said it took him 7.5 hours __ instead of the usual six __ to drive from his home near Minneapolis to his parents’ home outside Chicago on Thursday in sometimes icy conditions. “Thank goodness I had my car equipped with snow tires,” he said.
Activists Rushed To Rescue Homeless People
Activists also were rushing to get homeless people out of the cold. Nearly 170 adults and children were keeping warm early Friday in Detroit at a shelter and a warming center that are designed to hold 100 people. In Portland, Oregon, nearly 800 people slept at five emergency shelters on Thursday night, as homeless outreach teams fanned out to distribute cold-weather survival gear. Shelters called for volunteers amid high demand and staffing issues. Employees were laid low by flu or respiratory symptoms or kept from work by icy roads, officials said.
Food Delivery Suspended Due To Bomb Cyclone
DoorDash and Uber Eats suspended delivery service in some states and disrupted bus service in places like Seattle. The power ceased at Jaime Sheehan’s Maryland bakery for about 90 minutes on Friday, shutting off the convection oven and stilling the mixer she needed to make the butter cream, AP reported.
“Thankfully, all of the orders that were going out today already finished yesterday,” she said a few moments before the power returned, as quoted by AP. Around the same time, Corey Newcomb and his family were entering their sixth hour without power at their home in the small town of Phenix, Virginia. “We are coping and that’s about it,” Newcomb said in a Facebook message. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem said she was deploying the National Guard to haul timber to the Oglala Sioux and Rosebud Sioux tribes and help with snow removal.
“We have families that are way out there that we haven’t heard from in two weeks,” Wayne Boyd, chief of staff to the Rosebud Sioux president, said, as quoted by AP. Due to the fear of some people running out of food, the tribe was hoping to get a helicopter on Saturday to check on the stranded. The Oglala Sioux Tribe, meanwhile, was using snowmobiles to reach members who live at the end of miles-long dirt roads. “It’s been one heck of a fight so far,” said tribal President Frank Star Comes Out, as quoted by AP.
On the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Harlie Young was huddled with five children and her 58-year-old father around a wood stove as 12-foot (3.6-meter) snow drifts blocked the house. “We’re just trying to look on the bright side that they’re still coming and they didn’t forget us,” she said Friday, as the temperature plunged to frigid lows.
The weather service is forecasting the coldest Christmas in more than two decades in Philadelphia, where school officials shifted classes online Friday. Atop New Hampshire’s Mount Washington, the tallest peak in the Northeast, the wind topped 150 mph (241 kph). In Boston, rain combined with a high tide sent waves over the seawall at Long Wharf and flooded some downtown streets. It was so bad in Vermont that Amtrak canceled service for the day, and nonessential state offices were closing early.
(With AP Inputs)