A powerful winter storm hits the northeast of U.S and it could be one of the biggest ever to hit NY, which decreed the state of emergency, suspended vaccinations against covid-19 and expect about 50 cm of snow.
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The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a storm watch for an area from Virginia to Maine, home to tens of millions of people, and forecast huge snowfall with winds of up to 80 km / h in New
York, New Jersey and parts of Philadelphia and Connecticut.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio decreed Sunday night the state of emergency in the city of 8.6 million inhabitants, where the snow continues to fall nonstop in thick flakes and has already covered streets and avenues.
The New York government decreed the closure of schools Monday and Tuesday and restricted non-essential travel. This year, however, not as many people are affected as many students attend online classes and thousands of employees work from home in the wake of the pandemic.
The mayor also suspended covid vaccination appointments on Monday and banned restaurants from serving customers at tables located outside on Monday.
“I asked people not to be on the street. It is dangerous. The most important task now is to protect people’s lives by facing snow first. Tomorrow (Tuesday) we really want to go back to vaccination “against covid, de Blasio told MSNBC television on Monday.
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“This storm is no joke and the biggest concern now is that the rate of snowfall forecast this afternoon, 5 cm per hour, creates an extremely dangerous situation on our routes, “said New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
If we exceed 50 cm it will be one of the 10 biggest snow storms in New York City
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The mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, declared a state of emergency after the snowfall that hit the city.
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Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images/AFP
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–At top 10?
The snowfall, which started Sunday night, reached 13.5 cm in Central Park on Monday morning, and could reach up to 50 cm, according to the weather service.
“If we exceed 50 cm it will be one of the 10 biggest snow storms in New York City”Matthew Wunsch, a meteorologist for the NWS in the city, told AFP.
“It will be a decent blizzard for New York, one of the biggest we’ve seen in a while, at least in a couple of years.”added Wunsch, who indicated that it may continue to snow until Tuesday afternoon.
The three airports in New York and its metropolitan area canceled between 65% and 90% of their flights, according to the Flight Aware site.
More than 1,500 flights were canceled across the country, mostly in Boston, New
York, Washington DC and Philadelphia. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy also declared a state of emergency, giving authorities the ability to close roads, evacuate homes, and obtain equipment necessary for public safety.
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He also ordered the suspension of public transportation throughout the state until Monday. “Charge your devices and if you experience power outages, report them immediately”he wrote on Twitter.
Washington DC under snow
The storm, which left snowfall of up to 1.8 meters and heavy rains in mountainous areas of California last week, moved towards the Midwest, especially affecting Chicago, which registered about 20 cm of snow. Heavy snow has fallen since Sunday night in Washington DC and delighted the giant pandas at the National Zoo, frolicking in the snow.
The NWS predicts that the snow cover can reach up to 20 cm in the area of the federal capital and Baltimore, in Maryland. Thousands of students from DC schools were due to return to school in person on Monday for the first time since March, but their return was postponed to Tuesday.
Due to the snow, US President Joe Biden postponed a planned visit to the State Department. The city of Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania, also declared a state of emergency, closed government buildings and asked residents to remove their cars from certain streets so they can sweep snow. The storm is expected to hit Maine on Tuesday, where it can leave between 8 and 13 inches of snow, as well as hail.
AFP
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