WASHINGTON – Historic Storm Elliot plunged the United States into freezing weather in the midst of the Christmas season, making Christmas Eve bitter for thousands as flights were canceled and delayed, highways collapsed, and traffic disruptions current in various parts of the country.
The storm, a cyclonic bomb caused by an Arctic air front, has been causing sub-zero temperatures from Canada to Texas since Thursday, as well as heavy snow, high winds and rains in almost the entire territory.
If predictions come true, several East Coast cities, Florida, Louisiana and Texas could experience the coldest Christmases since records were kept.
At least 200 million people in the United States, 60 percent of the population, have been on some weather warning, according to the national weather service, the National Weather Service (NWS).
The latest part of this body, at 8:45 p.m., indicates that 3.9 million people remain on alert for a snowstorm this Saturday across the Midwest, Northeast, and Northwest.
THOUSANDS OF FLIGHTS CANCELED
Elliot’s passage has left thousands of people trying to reunite with their families without Christmas Eve, as some 4,900 flights were canceled on Saturday, according to data from Flight Aware.
These add to the nearly 6,000 cancellations that occurred Thursday, which have caused chaos and despair at several US airports.
The airports most affected by cancellations and delays are those of Atlanta (Georgia), Denver (Colorado), Seattle (Washington state), Chicago (Illinois), Portland (Oregon) and Orlando (Florida). In addition, those in Milwaukee (Wisconsin), Buffalo (New York) and Pasco (Washington state) were closed.
Couriers such as Fedex or UPS also announced delays in delivering gifts due to the storm.
The storm also affected the country’s power infrastructure, where 700,000 people were left without electricity in their homes by 8 p.m., primarily in the states of North Carolina and Maine, according to the Power Outage tracker.
During the day there were more than 1.5 million users in the dark.
Duke Energy on Saturday asked its customers in Ohio and Kentucky to reduce the use of non-essential electrical appliances through tomorrow due to the high heating demand it is experiencing due to cold temperatures.
Dozens of airline pilots and crew have tested positive for COVID-19, canceling hundreds of flights.
DANGER ON THE ROADS
At least 15 people were killed in the storm, according to local media tallies, four of them in a multi-car crash on a snow-covered Ohio highway.
The Weather Service warned Saturday that road travel in parts of the Midwest and Northeast was “extremely dangerous or even impossible” and warned that “chilling winds pose a danger to the lives of stranded travellers.”
The American Automobile Association (AAA) predicted days ago that 113 million people would take trips over 50 miles during these festivities.
A COUNTRY ON ALERT
US President Joe Biden appeared publicly on Thursday to warn Americans to take the storm “extremely seriously” and follow the recommendations of the authorities.
At least 12 states in the country have declared a state of emergency due to the freezing cold, such as Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia or New York.
“Low temperatures have left dangerous conditions on the roads today. Stay off the roads,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul asked on social networks this Saturday.
Hundreds of people were trapped in their vehicles by snow in the city of Buffalo (New York), which had to close its border bridges with Canada. “It was a very bad night for our community,” Erie County official Marc Poloncarz told reporters.
In the south of the country, hundreds of migrants slept in the open, enduring sub-zero temperatures in the city of El Paso (Texas), where they arrived in recent days after crossing the border into Mexico.
Texan Governor Greg Abbott explained on Twitter that his state had on Friday and Saturday the days with the highest energy needs ever recorded in a winter.
On Friday, members of the US House of Representatives rushed to vote on fiscal year 2023 budgets for fear of being stranded on Christmas Eve in Washington.
The US capital experiences minimum temperatures of 13°C below zero this Saturday. The city is expected to have the coldest Christmas since 1989.
Up to a foot of snow is expected in the New York and New England area this Friday. To see more from Telemundo, visit https://www.nbc.com/networks/telemundo.
