The United States has seen the cancellation of more than 4,000 flights ahead of severe winter storms that have already caused power outages affecting over 230,000 people from the West through Texas, while threatening widespread disruption across the eastern states due to heavy snowfall.
اضافة اعلان
Meteorologists said that snow and freezing rain accompanied by extremely cold weather are expected to sweep across two-thirds of the eastern region today (Sunday) and throughout the week, according to Reuters.
President Donald Trump described the storms as “historic” and on Saturday approved the issuance of federal emergency disaster warnings in the states of Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Maryland, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Indiana, West Virginia, South Carolina, and North Carolina.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said: “We will continue to monitor and remain in contact with all states in the path of this storm. Stay safe and stay warm.”
According to the Department of Homeland Security, 17 states have declared states of emergency due to the weather. A power outage tracking website reported that outages are increasing, and as of 2:44 a.m. Eastern Time (07:44 GMT) on Sunday, electricity had been cut off to about 230,000 customers across the United States, most of them in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and Tennessee.
Flight-tracking website FlightAware reported that as of 10:21 p.m. Eastern Time on Saturday, more than 4,000 U.S. flights scheduled to depart that day had been canceled. More than 9,400 flights scheduled for today (Sunday) were also canceled.
Asharq Al-Awsat
