WASHINGTON – The historic storm Elliot has plunged the United States into freezing weather in the midst of the Christmas season, making Christmas Eve bitter for thousands of people due to the cancellation and delay of flights, the collapse of highways and power outages in various parts of the country.
The storm, a cyclonic bomb caused by an arctic air front, is causing subzero temperatures from Canada to Texas since Thursday, as well as heavy snowfall, strong winds and rains in almost the entire territory.
If the forecasts come true, several cities on the east coast, Florida, Louisiana and Texas could experience the coldest Christmases since records have been kept.
At least 200 million people in the United States, 60% of the population, have been under some weather alert, according to the national weather service, the National Weather Service (NWS).
The last part of this body, at 8:45 pm, indicates that 3.9 million people remain on alert for a snow storm this Saturday, in the Midwest, Northeast and Northwest of the country.
THOUSANDS OF CANCELED FLIGHTS
Elliot’s passage has left thousands of people trying to reunite with their families without Christmas Eve, since some 4,900 flights have been canceled this Saturday, according to data from the Flight Aware portal.
These are in addition to the nearly 6,000 cancellations that occurred on Thursday, causing chaos and despair at several airports in the United States.
The aerodromes most affected by cancellations and delays are those of Atlanta (Georgia), Denver (Colorado), Seattle (Washington state), Chicago (Illinois), Portland (Oregon) and Orlando (Florida). In addition, those in Milwaukee (Wisconsin), Buffalo (New York) and Pasco (Washington state) are closed.
Even courier companies like Fedex or UPS have announced delays in the delivery of gifts as a result of the storm.
The storm has also hit the country’s electrical infrastructure, where 700,000 people remained without power in their homes at 8:00 pm, mainly in the states of North Carolina and Maine, according to the Power Outage tracker.
Throughout the day there were more than 1.5 million users in the dark.
The Duke Energy company asked its customers in Ohio and Kentucky this Saturday to reduce the use of non-essential electrical appliances until tomorrow due to the high demand for heating that is being experienced due to low temperatures.
Dozens of pilots and airline crew members have tested positive for COVID-19, canceling hundreds of flights.
DANGER ON THE ROADS
At least 15 people have died due to the storm, according to local media counts, four of them in a multi-car crash on a snow-covered Ohio highway.
The weather service warned on Saturday that road travel in parts of the Midwest and Northeast was “extremely dangerous or even impossible,” and warned that “icy winds pose a life-threatening danger to stranded travelers.”
The American Automobile Association (AAA) predicted days ago that 113 million people would undertake journeys of more than 50 miles during these festivities.
A COUNTRY ON ALERT
The president of the United States, Joe Biden, appeared publicly on Thursday to warn Americans to take the storm “extremely seriously” and to follow the recommendations of the authorities.
At least 12 states in the country have declared a state of emergency due to the freezing cold, such as Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia or New York.
“The low temperatures have left dangerous conditions on the roads today. Stay off the roads,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul asked this Saturday on social networks.
Hundreds of people have been trapped in their vehicles by the snow in the city of Buffalo (New York), which has had to close the border bridges with Canada. “It’s been a very bad night for our community,” Erie County official Marc Poloncarz told reporters.
In the south of the country, hundreds of migrants slept outdoors, enduring temperatures below zero in the city of El Paso (Texas), where they have arrived in recent days after crossing the border with Mexico.
Texan Governor Greg Abbot explained on Twitter that his state has registered this Friday and Saturday the days with the highest energy demand ever recorded in a winter.
On Friday, members of the US House of Representatives rushed to vote on budgets for the fiscal year 2023 in fear of being stuck on Christmas Eve in Washington.
The US capital experiences this Saturday minimum temperatures of 13 ° C below zero. The city is expected to have the coldest Christmas since 1989.
Up to a foot of snow in the New York and New England area is expected this Friday. To see more from Telemundo, visit https://www.nbc.com/networks/telemundo.