Funviralpark (Reuters) – An arctic blast hit much of the United States on Saturday, leaving nearly 2 million people without power, at least 14 dead in weather-related car accidents and thousands stranded due to flight cancellations .
With a sharp drop in temperatures predicted to be a record cold on Christmas Eve, energy systems across the country were strained by increased heat demand and storm-related damage to power lines.
About 1.8 million homes and businesses in the United States were without power as of early Saturday morning, according to tracking site Poweroutage.us.
Many utilities were asking consumers to save energy by not running large appliances and turning off unnecessary lights.
The turmoil has also upended the daily lives and vacation plans of millions of Americans in one of the busiest travel periods of the year.
About 2,000 flights were canceled in the US on Saturday, with a total of 4,000 delays, according to flight tracking service FlightAware. More than 5,000 flights were canceled on Friday, according to flight tracking.
The American Automobile Association estimated that between Friday and January 2, 112.7 million people plan to travel more than 50 miles (80 km) from their homes.
At least 14 people have died in weather-related accidents in deadly car crashes across the country, according to media reports.
Two drivers were killed and many others injured when 50 vehicles collided during a blizzard near Toledo that closed the Ohio Turnpike in both directions. Officials said the stranded driver had to evacuate the bus to avoid freezing inside. .
Three of the deaths have been reported in Kentucky, where Gov. Andy Beshear warned residents on Saturday to “stay home, stay safe, and stay alive.”
“I know it’s really hard because it’s Christmas Eve, but there are dozens of accidents,” he said in an online briefing. “It’s just not safe.”
Buffalo, New York and surrounding counties on Lake Erie in western New York continued to experience snowstorm conditions Saturday, with four to six feet of snow expected by Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.
The city imposed a driving ban on Friday, which remained in effect on Saturday, and all three border crossing bridges in the Buffalo area were closed to inbound traffic from Canada due to the weather.
Pittsburgh temperatures are forecast to top Saturday at 7 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 13 degrees Celsius), above the all-time record Christmas Eve temperature of 13 degrees Fahrenheit set in 1983. NWS) said.
Similarly, the Georgia and South Carolina cities of Athens and Charleston are expected to see their coldest daytime highs on Christmas Eve, while Washington, DC is set to experience its coldest December 24th since 1989. predicted.
The surge in Euletide temperature records was predicted amid the frigid US cold, which was sharply exacerbated by dangerous wind chills that continued to envelop much of the eastern two-thirds of the US.
“The cold snap will continue until Christmas,” said Ashton Robinson Cook, a meteorologist at the NWS Center for Weather Prediction.
He said Minneapolis on Saturday was the coldest place in America with -6 degrees Fahrenheit, and the coldest place on Christmas morning would be -20 degrees in Fargo, North Dakota.
Milder will begin across the United States from west to east, with the highlands and central United States returning to normal by Tuesday, but the East Coast will not warm until Friday Thursday.
“For now, it stays cold,” he said.
Bad weather has spurred authorities across the country to open warming centers in libraries and police stations and expand temporary shelters for the homeless. The problem has been exacerbated by the influx of thousands of migrants across the US southern border in recent weeks.
The National Weather Service said the map of current or impending weather hazards “shows one of the largest winter weather warnings and advisories ever made.”
(Reporting by Rich McKay, Atlanta; additional reporting by Joel Schectman, Gabriella Borter, Tim Reid, Lisa Baertlein, Erwin Seba, Susan Heavey, Laila Kearney, Alyson McClaren, Aleksandra Michalska, and Scott DiSavino; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Aurora Ellis, William Mallard and Diane Kraft)
