A major winter storm knocked across the eastern United States on Sunday with snow, ice and high winds, causing widespread travel disruption and power outages over the holiday weekend.
With winter weather warnings extending more than 1,000 miles (1,609 km) from Alabama to Maine, the governors of Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina have declared states of emergency due to the storm.
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Parts of Ontario set to hit ‘biggest winter storm’ in years
According to PowerOutage.US, a power outage tracking website, more than 200,000 homes and businesses in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia have reported power outages.
In North Carolina, where some areas received record snowfall, two people died after losing control of their car in Raleigh on Sunday.
The highest snowfall was expected in the lower Great Lakes, along the backbone of the Appalachians.
The National Weather Service said the storm made its way from the mid-Atlantic region toward New England on Sunday night, which is expected to turn into snow, sleet and eventually rain.
In Canada, the storm is forecast to fall between 20–40 cm (8–16 in) of snow by Monday morning in parts of southern and eastern Ontario, the Canadian province that shares part of its border with the state of New York. Canada said.
Bad weather hit Ontario’s schools to reopen for in-person classes on Monday after winter break was extended due to the highly contagious Omicron coronavirus variant.
More than 3,000 flights were canceled and more than 8,000 were delayed in or out of the United States on Sunday, according to data from FlightAware.
American Airlines Group Inc. canceled more than 660 flights. The FlightAware website https://flightaware.com/live/cancelled showed that more than 90% of flights were canceled at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, the American Airlines hub, in North Carolina.
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‘Increasingly likely’ that Toronto area will be hit by ‘disruptive’ snowfall
American Airlines said it is allowing weather-affected customers to book flights at no charge.
Toronto, home of Canada’s busiest airport, is expected to collect between 15 and 20 centimeters of snow.
It was a long weekend for most people in the United States because Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a federal holiday.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said on Sunday that people should avoid non-essential travel to areas affected by the storm.
“If you are able to tonight and tomorrow morning, stay home and stay off the streets,” Kemp said on Twitter. “It’s going to be treacherous in many parts of our state.”
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