Some states are more affected by this “cyclonic bomb” than others, including North Carolina, Maine and Virginia
Nearly 1.5 million American homes were without power on Friday due to a winter storm of rare intensity, which caused chaos in transport on the eve of Christmas, with thousands of flights canceled and roads that have sometimes become impassable.
On Friday morning, more than 240 million people were affected by warnings or calls for caution in the United States, wrote the United States Weather Service (NWS), which called the storm “historic”. This represents more than 70% of the population.
In much of the country, conditions had become very dangerous for travel. But millions of Americans flooded the roads and airports for the holiday season.
In New York State, a travel ban has been issued in Erie County. “We stay at home (…) I can’t see on the other side of 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 were without electricity on Friday at midday, notably 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.
The temperatures were thus negative up to the Texas coast, even though many migrants from Mexico found themselves there in difficult conditions.
In El Paso, shelters have been opened to allow them to 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 56-year-old volunteer Rosa Falcon.
Some of them had to dismantle their tents by order of the authorities, and “simply sleep wrapped in blankets”, she said sorry.
State of emergency declared in some states
Friday afternoon, the specialized site Flightaware had more than 4,500 canceled flights in the United States, the airports most affected being those of Seattle, New York, Chicago or Detroit.
Several states have declared states of emergency, such as New York, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Georgia and North Carolina.
“People should stay home, not venture out onto the roads,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear told CNN on Friday morning. “Your family wants to see you home for Christmas, but most of all they want to see you alive.”
Due to snow and strong winds, “blizzard conditions can develop very quickly,” he said, adding that the National Guard had been deployed in the state.
He confirmed that three people had died on Kentucky roads. 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 potentially deadly winds,” as well as “blinding snowstorms,” New York State Governor Kathy Hochul said Friday.
“The roads are going to be like ice rinks”, and this until the weekend, she warned.
