Residents across a huge swath of the US were hunkered down as a massive winter storm packing snow, ice and high winds, followed by possible record-breaking cold, moved up the east coast, with the worst conditions expected from the Carolinas to Maine.
The massive storm expected yesterday began two days ago in the Gulf of Mexico, first hitting the Florida panhandle. It has prompted thousands of canceled flights, shuttered schools and businesses, and sparked fears of coastal flooding and power outages.
Wind gusts of 80kph to 95kph, strong enough to cause downed trees and power lines, are predicted in places where the US National Weather Service has issued blizzard warnings. They include the Delmarva Peninsula, which includes parts of Delaware, Virginia and Maryland; coastal New Jersey; eastern Long Island, New York; and coastal eastern New England.
Photo: AP
Winter storm warnings stretched as far south as South Carolina on Wednesday night, but US National Weather Service meteorologist Dan Peterson said the storm would be over by early yesterday in the southern states.
For most of yesterday, he said the storm would impact the northeast, with Boston possibly getting up to 35cm of snow. The storm would then be followed by a wave of bracing cold.
“We think there are going to be scattered records broken for low temperatures,” said Peterson, adding how the weather service expects 28 major cities across New England, eastern New York and the mid-Atlantic states would have record low temperatures by dawn on Sunday.
State and local officials urged residents to prepare for possible power losses and stay home so crews could clear the roads of what could be as much as 30cm or more of snow in some places.
There were concerns in Boston and elsewhere that if roads are not properly cleared, they could freeze into cement-like icy messes by today, given the expected low temperatures. In other areas, plummeting temperatures have already caused water mains to burst.
“As your governor, I am asking you, I am imploring you to stay home tomorrow. Let us do our work,” Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo said on Wednesday.
The state’s electric utility, National Grid, predicted power could be knocked out to an estimated 50,000 customers with the expected high winds that could gust up to 113kph.
The blast of winter weather and plunging temperatures has already taken a human toll.
The number of deaths linked to the relentless cold had risen to at least 17 on Wednesday.
Two homeless men were found dead in Houston, where police said the deaths were believed to be the result of “exposure to frigid weather.”
Deaths also were reported in Mississippi, Michigan and other states.
In Virginia, where Governor Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency, people were buying shovels and insulation for pipes as flurries began to fall on Wednesday.
“This is probably going to keep the kids out of school until Tuesday. None of it is going to melt,” said Doug Nashold, 55, a retired US Navy captain who had tubes of pipe insulation hung over his arm as he left a Home Depot in Norfolk.
He already had one pipe burst from the intense cold.
“I thought I was prepared, but it got colder a lot quicker than I thought it would,” he said.
In Charleston, South Carolina, the weather service reported 12cm of snow, enough for Chris Monoc’s sons, aged four and two, to go sledding outside their home.
“They probably will be teenagers the next time something like this happens and that’s kind of sad, but we’ll enjoy it while it’s here,” Monoc said.
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