Millions of Americans bowed down as a major winter storm lashed the eastern United States with heavy snow and ice knocking over an estimated 130,000 customers early Monday.
The National Weather Service (NWS) said the storm was bringing a pathetic combination of heavy snow, frozen rain and high winds before moving as far as New England and southern Canada, affecting the southeast and coastal mid-Atlantic .
It warned that a team from the upper Ohio Valley north to the lower Great Lakes region could expect more than 30 centimeters of snow on Monday.
In total, more than 80 million people fell under winter weather warnings, US media reported.
According to the website PowerOutage.US, about 235,000 were without power on Sunday, but that fell to about 130,000 along the East Coast and Kentucky early Monday, as supplies were restored.
The storm triggered devastating tornadoes in Florida and flooding in coastal areas, while concerns in the Carolinas and in the Appalachians raged through icy conditions and stormy winds.
Transportation was severely disrupted, thousands of flights were cancelled, and a section of busy Interstate Highway I-95 closed in North Carolina.
More than 3,000 flights in or out of the United States were canceled on Sunday.
Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina was the worst affected, with 95 percent of its flights operating, according to the FlightAware website. Another 1,200 flights were canceled early Monday.
Emergency stiuation
Drivers were warned of dangerous road conditions and major travel headaches at the Canadian border, from Arkansas to Maine in the south.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency on Friday, and snowflakes were working before noon to clear the roads.
Virginia and North Carolina also declared states of emergency.
Virginia State Police said on Twitter that they had responded to about 1,000 accidents and disabled vehicles on Sunday. “Most of the vehicles were damaged. No traffic fatalities have been reported,” the force said.
“Multi-vehicle backup” with minor accidents had previously halted traffic on a major interstate in the southern part of the state.
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said on Twitter that up to a foot of snow had fallen in some areas by noon, and “significant snow is causing trouble in the central part of the state” as he urged people to stay inside and avoid travel. Reminded for possible.
Also in North Carolina, students were shaken after the roof of a college residence hall collapsed due to the storm, although no one was hurt, according to the local ABC news station.
“Very scary,” Brevard College sommelier Melody Ferguson told the station. “I’m still trembling to this very moment.”
The NWS also reported some snow in Pensacola, Florida, while generally mild Atlanta, Georgia also saw snow.
The storm is expected to cause some coastal flooding, and the NWS warned that winds could be near hurricane force on the Atlantic coast.
It already snowed in the northeastern United States earlier this month. When a tornado hit the Northeast, hundreds of motorists were stranded for more than 24 hours on a major highway connecting the capital Washington.
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