More than 670,000 people in the United States were left without electricity and almost 10,000 flights were canceled this Sunday (25), ahead of a winter storm that threatens to paralyze the eastern states with heavy snowfall.
Forecasters said snow, sleet, freezing rain and dangerously low temperatures would sweep across the eastern two-thirds of the country this Sunday and throughout the week.
Calling the storms “historic,” US President Donald Trump on Saturday approved federal emergency disaster declarations in South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, Maryland, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Indiana and West Virginia.
“We will continue to monitor and stay in touch with all States in the path of this storm. Stay safe and warm,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Seventeen states and the District of Columbia have declared climate emergencies, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, in a press conference Saturday, warned Americans to take precautions.
“It’s going to be very, very cold,” Noem said. “So we encourage everyone to stock up on fuel, stock up on food, and we’re going to get through this together.”
“We have utility crews who are working to restore power as quickly as possible,” Noem added.
The number of power outages continued to increase. As of Sunday morning, more than 670,000 U.S. customers were without electricity, according to the website PowerOutage.US, with more than 100,000 in Mississippi, Texas, Tennessee and Louisiana. Other states affected were Kentucky, Georgia, Virginia and New Mexico.
The National Weather Service warned of an unusually expansive, long-lived winter storm that would bring widespread, heavy ice accumulation to the Southeast, where “disabling to locally catastrophic impacts” can be expected.
Forecasters predicted record cold temperatures and dangerous icy winds descending further into the Great Plains region by Monday.
More than 9,990 U.S. flights scheduled for Sunday were canceled, according to flight tracking website FlightAware. More than 4,000 flights were canceled on Saturday.
Major US airlines have warned passengers to be aware of sudden flight changes and cancellations.
On Saturday, U.S. power grid operators stepped up precautions to avoid rotating blackouts.
