Par Nicholas Zaugra
Published on June 9, 23 at 5:23 p.m. See my news Follow Actu Lyon Wednesday, 1:30 p.m. Normally, you can see New Jersey very well in front. Orange smoke covers the New York sky. (©Document provided/ Jérôme/ news Lyon)
Canada has been burning with giant forest fires for days. Several hundred kilometers away, the town of New-York was plunged into a thick cloud of smoke linked to the fires.
Wednesday June 7, 2023, the Big Apple even found itself all orange.
Jérôme, a Frenchman who lives in the United States in the suburbs of New York and who works in Manhattan, testifies toLyon news. The native Lyonnais had never seen such a phenomenon affect the American metropolis of 8.5 million inhabitants.
“End of the world atmosphere”
The ex-Lyonnais, who lives about 20 km from the center of New York where he goes every morning to work, still cannot believe it. ” It was like an end of the world atmosphere“, he describes in a city where the sky suddenly changed color on Wednesday afternoon.
“It started a week ago with a double cloudy sky, rather gray and a veiled sun”, he testifies. “There were days with more pronounced skies than others. There weren’t necessarily any breathing problems at the time,” recalls the Franco-American.
Times Square in New York on Tuesday, June 6. The sky is gray at the end of the day because of the smoke from the fires coming from Canada. (©Document provided/ Jérôme/ news Lyon)
“A very strange smell of smoke”
Tuesday, a first smell of “very strange smoke” is felt in the very busy streets of the city world. “We couldn’t see the buildings 300 meters away with a very gray sky”.
Jerome cycled 20 minutes from his office to Grand Central Station to catch the train home. “That’s when I thought maybe I should wear a mask.”
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Wednesday, a thick fog then an orange sky
Wednesday was the most gripping day for New Yorkers. “At first there was a thick fog. “In Manhattan, you could no longer see the tower One World Trade Center“, he says while it is however the highest tower in the city with its 541 meters. At the edge of the Hudson River, impossible to see the other bank and the buildings of Jersey City.
It was around 1 p.m. Wednesday that the inhabitants, including Jérôme, saw the sky change color to orange and this “for two hours”. “There were many curious people in the streets who wanted to take pictures but also a lot of mistrust and deserted places like the beaches”.
He climbs on the roof of the building where his office is and takes pictures. The contrast is striking. THE sky is all orange and it is difficult to see the buildings in the middle of the afternoon.
The Hudson Yards business district in New York. (©Document provided/ Jérôme/ news Lyon)
Canceled outings, delayed planes, masks and pollution…
New York has become this week the most polluted city in the world with unprecedented levels of air pollution. The authorities have advised fragile people not to go out and airport flights have been delayed due to poor visibility.
“We received an email at work giving us safety instructions and telling us that we could work at home for the end of the week”, confides Jérôme. At her son’s school, outings are canceled as is a concert. This is still the case this Friday, June 9.
On the first photo with the orange sky, it is impossible to distinguish the One World Trade Center, the tallest building in New York. (©Document provided/ Jérôme/ news Lyon)
“The atmosphere was a little weird, it reminded me of the Covid when New York was completely empty or when Hurricane Sandy in 2012 hit the city and plunged half the inhabitants into darkness”, recalls the former Lyonnais who left France for the United States at the age of 19.
360 times Paris or 794 times Lyon
These giant fires which strike Canada represent 360 times the surface of Paris, 321 times that of Toulouse, 158 times Marseille and 794 times that of Lyon.
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2023-06-09 07:00:00
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