Millions of Americans took cover from a major storm that hits with snow, ice and strong winds in the east of the country and has caused traffic disruptions, flight suspensions and power outages in some 190,000 households On Monday in the morning.
(Read here: Tornado devastates dozens of homes and leaves several injured in Florida)
The National Weather Service (NWS) said the storm combined heavy snow, freezing rain and strong winds and impacted the Southeast and mid-Atlantic coast before heading to New England and southern Canada.
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Up to a foot of snow is expected in a swath of territory stretching from the northern Ohio Valley to the southern Great Lakes region, the NWS warned.
More than 80 million people are under climate alerts, US media reported.
As of mid-Sunday, some 235,000 customers had lost power in the Southeast, but by Monday morning that number had dropped to 190,000, according to the website. PowerOutage.US.
In areas along the Appalachian Mountains, snow could fall as much as 1 inch per hour on Monday while frigid conditions could last through Tuesday, according to the NWS.
The storm generated tornadoes in the state of Florida (southeast) and flooding in parts of the coast. Icy cold and powerful gales swept over the Carolinas (east) and Appalachians.
Transport was also severely affected. More of 3,000 flights within, to or from the United States were canceled on Sunday, according to the FlightAware website, while other 4,200 experienced delays.
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Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina was the hardest hit, with 1,200 canceled flights, more than 90% of scheduled trips, according to the FlightAware website. Another 1,200 trips across the country had been canceled by early Monday.
State of emergency
The governor of the neighboring state of Georgia, Brian Kemp, had declared a state of emergency on Friday and snowplows had been working since before noon to clear roads. Virginia and North Carolina also declared states of emergency.
Virginia police said on their Twitter account that they had to respond to nearly 1,000 incidents on Sunday. “Most cars damaged. No fatalities reported,” he said.
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper also said on Twitter that as of noon Sunday, up to a foot of snow had fallen in some areas and that “significant icing is causing problems in the central part of the state.”
In addition, he urged the population to, as far as possible, avoid commuting. Also in that state, the storm caused the collapse of the roof of a hall of a university residence, according to the ABC network, although there were no injuries.
The NWS reported that flurries of snow were even recorded in Pensacola, Florida, while Atlanta Georgia), usually mild, also had a snowfall. Some coastal flooding is expected and the NWS warned that winds on the Atlantic coast could approach hurricane force.
Snow already hit the northeastern United States earlier this month. A storm caused hundreds of motorists to be trapped for more than 24 hours on I-95, the interstate highway that runs along the entire east coast of the country.
AFP
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