Washington, Jan 23 (IANS) A monster snowstorm clobbered the US East Coast from Washington to New York leaving major cities, railways and airports immobilised with the American capital right in the bull's eye buried under mounds of snow.
Up to 85 million people are in the storm's path that has left at least 10 people dead nationwide. Over 160,000 homes in 13 states are without power and over 9,290 flights were cancelled from Friday, according to various media reports.
Hundreds of motorists from Kentucky to Pennsylvania were stranded on icy inter-states. Nearly a 1,000 traffic crashes and 800 disabled vehicles were reported in Virginia alone.
Eleven states -- Georgia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Kentucky, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Delaware, Virginia and West Virginia -- declared states of emergency. Washington has declared a "snow emergency".
Dubbed "Snowmageddon 2016", the storm has already surpassed the one in February 2010 when 17 inches of snow fell on Washington and it looked like topping the calamitous "Knickerbocker Storm" of 1922, which dumped 28 inches on the capital.
The weatherman offered no hopes of a letup warning of 18-40 inches of snow in some areas with 55 miles per hour (88 km per hour) wind gusts possible in Norfolk, Virginia.
Snow arrived in Washington on Friday afternoon and quickly intensified, with a depth of two feet possible by the time the last flakes fall on Saturday night, according to city Mayor Muriel Bowser.
Public transportation in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., was shut down as officials called on residents to hunker down and stay off the streets for a second day.
In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo said the expected snowfall for parts of his state has been upped "to about 16 to 24 inches".
While things are "so far, so good", Cuomo said Saturday morning "conditions will start to deteriorate" once the centre of the storm hits New York City around 11 a.m."
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at [email protected])
Washington, Jan 23
A monster snowstorm that could bury the American capital under more than two and a half feet of snow swept across the US EastCoast with 85 million residents in its path, bringing the region to a virtual standstill.
Governors in at least 10 states -- Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, West Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky -- declared states of emergency Friday as the snowstorm began.
With the weatherman warning that the epic storm dubbed "Snowmageddon 2016"
would last for 36 hours until early hours of Sunday, travel was disrupted in at least five major airport hubs, with over 7,600 flights cancelled on Friday and Saturday.
The ripple effect extended to Los Angeles International Airport, with 86 cancelled arriving and departing flights, according to CNN.
By Friday evening over 130,000 people had lost power as Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York faced blizzard conditions with winds of up to 50 miles an hour.
Cities from Nashville in Tennessee to New York started emergency operations to respond to what the National Weather Service deemed a "potentially crippling winter storm."
The Washington region's mass transit system took what officials called an "exceedingly rare" step of shutting down for the weekend.
"We have a forecast that we haven't had in 90 years," said Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser.
"It has life and death implications, and (people) should treat it that way,"
she said warning residents to "hunker down, shelter in place and stay off the roads."
President Barack Obama put off a White House ceremony where he was to award medals to scientists and technology innovators, including an Indian-American scientist.
The winter storm forced postponement of hundreds of events -- including the National Basketball Association games in Philadelphia and Washington.
"The real teeth" of the storm will be after midnight through Saturday afternoon, the National Weather Service tweeted. "Heavy snow, increasing winds, lightning threat."
The storm could approach the 28 inches in January 1922 that ranks as Washington's snowiest storm and is likely to easily surpass the highest recent snowfall, 17.8 inches that fell in February 2010.
As night fell, most streets in Washington region that is home to 6 million people were deserted, restaurants were dark, and downtown streets normally busy with rush-hour traffic were eerily quiet.
Virtually all institutions and attractions in and around the capital region - including the Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo - said they would be closed through the weekend.
The US national railway service Amtrak said it hoped to operate on a reduced schedule along the Northeast Corridor line.
In New York, where blizzard conditions are expected to hit early Saturday and bring 12 to 18 inches of snow, Mayor Bill de Blasio urged residents to use mass transit and to stay home as much as possible.
"Unless it is urgent, stay off the roads," he said. "It's as simple as that."
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at [email protected])
