New York is awash in snow and still expects a lot of it – rts.ch

The snowstorm that hits the east coast of the United States causes a chaotic situation in several cities. Hundreds of flights have been cancelled, schools closed and Covid vaccinations postponed. In New York, more snowfall is expected.

From Washington to Boston, from Pennsylvania to Maine, tens of millions of inhabitants had been placed on alert in the face of this snowy episode accompanied by gusts of up to 80 km / h. As of 7 p.m. local time Monday (1 a.m. Tuesday in Switzerland), the snow cover had reached more than 41 cm in Central Park in New York, according to the National Weather Service.

With new bad weather announced for Tuesday evening, the largest city in the United States is preparing to face one of the heaviest snowfalls in its history. According to data recorded since 1869 in Central Park, a layer exceeding 50 cm in total would rise in the eight snowiest episodes recorded in the megalopolis. The record dates from January 2016, with nearly 70 cm fallen in three days.

>> Images of snow in Central Park and on the streets of Manhattan:

Postponed vaccines

A man clears his car in Brooklyn on Tuesday morning [Brendan McDermid – Reuters]Some already fear that, like the historic “great blizzard” of March 1888, the city will have to mourn deaths and considerable material damage. To avoid this, Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a local state of emergency to facilitate the maneuvers of clearing machines, omnipresent on the main roads.

The eight million inhabitants of the city have been asked to stay at home. Gritters and snow plows criss-cross the streets of New York, already quieter than usual due to the pandemic.

Schools that remained open despite the pandemic – mostly infant and primary schools – were closed on Monday and Tuesday, sending all their students back to online education. The anti-Covid-19 vaccination centers, which operate only by appointment, have also been closed until Tuesday inclusive.

No return to school in Washington

In the capital Washington, where the snow had arrived on Sunday, the return to school scheduled for Tuesday for thousands of schoolchildren has been postponed, when a long interruption of lessons due to the pandemic was due to end.

ats/vicThe snow cover has already exceeded 40 cm in New York [Wong Maye-E – Keystone/AP]

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