Winter storm batters US, 28 killed as flights cancelled and power cut
A major winter storm has swept across the US, killing at least 28 people and causing widespread power cuts, mass flight cancellations and school closures.
A powerful winter storm has swept across the United States, bringing heavy snowfall to many areas and leaving at least 28 people dead. Deaths linked to a snowplough crash and sledging incidents were also reported.
The storm has caused widespread power outages, mass flight cancellations and school closures.
Xinhua reported that two people were killed in snowplough-related road crashes in Massachusetts and Ohio. Sledging accidents were reported in Arkansas and Texas. In New York City, officials found eight people dead outdoors after temperatures dropped sharply overnight.
Road surfaces from Massachusetts in the north-east to Texas in the south became icy and slippery, and were often covered by more than 30 centimetres of snow. In some southern states, residents faced bitterly cold conditions not seen for decades.
Data from poweroutage.com showed that nearly 700,000 electricity customers across the Mid-Atlantic and the South were without power at 4.00pm Eastern Time on Monday ( January 26), with most outages in the South.
Mississippi, Tennessee and Louisiana were the worst hit, as freezing rain brought down tree branches and power lines, severely disrupting electricity supply.
The storm also heavily disrupted air travel. More than 12,500 flights within the United States were cancelled on Sunday (January 25), the highest number of cancellations in a single day since the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
FlightAware, a flight-tracking website, said that by Monday afternoon more than 5,200 flights in, out of and within the US had been cancelled, while over 6,600 were delayed.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported ground-traffic delays at several major US airports due to snow and ice, including Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Meanwhile, all public schools in New York City were closed on Monday, with students instructed to switch to online learning from home.
