NEW YORK: A major winter storm hit the eastern United States Monday with heavy snow and ice knocking power out for an estimated 190,000 customers as millions hunker down.
The National Weather Service (NWS) said the storm was bringing a miserable combination of heavy snow, freezing rain and high winds, impacting the southeast and coastal mid-Atlantic before moving up to New England and southern Canada.
A swath from the upper Ohio Valley north to the lower Great Lakes region could expect more than a foot (30 centimeters) of snow Monday, it warned.
“Heavy snow and ice accumulations are likely to produce hazardous travel, downed trees and power outages through Monday for portions of the eastern U.S.,” it said.
In all, more than 80 million people fell under the winter weather alerts, U.S. media reported.
About 190,000 customers were without power early Monday, according to the website PowerOutage.US.
The storm spawned damaging tornadoes in Florida and flooding in coastal areas, while in the Carolinas and up through the Appalachians icy conditions and blustery winds raised concerns.
Transport was seriously disrupted, with thousands of flights canceled, and a portion of busy interstate highway I-95 was closed in North Carolina.
More than 3,000 flights within, into or out of the United States were canceled Sunday.
Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina was the worst-affected with 1,200 flights, or more than 90% of its scheduled services, canceled, according to the FlightAware website. A further 1,200 flights nationwide had been canceled early Monday. –Agencies
