Funviralpark Severe winter storms cut power to 1.7 million homes and businesses across the U.S. on Saturday, with millions more worried about how the prospect of more power outages will affect their vacation and travel plans I decided to
Blinding snowstorms, freezing rains and frigid cold blanketed much of the country, cutting power from Maine to Seattle while major power grid operators cut service to the eastern United States. We warned the 65 million people we serve that rolling blackouts may be necessary.
Officials believe that at least 12 people have died nationwide, including two people who were unable to reach the emergency services at their home outside Buffalo, New York. in a historic blizzard.
Pennsylvania-based PJM Interconnection said the frigid weather was making power plant operations difficult and asked residents in 13 states to refrain from unnecessary power use.
The Tennessee Valley Authority, which supplies electricity to 10 million people in Tennessee and parts of six surrounding states, told local power companies on Saturday that it had planned to “ensure the reliability of the power system.” I ordered a power outage.
About 400,000 electricity customers remained without electricity Saturday morning in six New England states. Some utilities have warned that it could take days before power is restored. In North Carolina, he had more than 415,000 customers without power, according to poweroutage.us.
An emergency call to save the entire system from PJM Interconnection instructs residents to set thermostats lower than normal, postpone use of major appliances such as stoves and dishwashers, and turn off unnecessary lights. advised to
Commercial and industrial power users are also being asked to cut. Utilities officials said demand increased at the same time across the power system as some plants were having trouble operating in the extreme cold. They warned of rolling blackouts.
said Mike Bryson, senior vice president of operations at PJM. Covers all or part of Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington DC doing.
Across the country, the storm forced highway closures and at least a dozen people died from crashes, exposure and storm damage, officials said.
Two people died at their home in the Buffalo suburb of Cheektowaga on Friday after paramedics failed to arrive in time to treat a medical emergency, according to Erie County Executive Mark Polonkers.
In a weather forecast late Saturday morning, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul described the snowstorm that hit the western part of the state as “one of the worst ever.”
Buffalo Niagara International Airport will be closed until Monday morning, and some roads will remain closed until Christmas Day, affecting some transportation in western New York, Hochul said. , as of Saturday morning, nearly all of Buffalo’s fire trucks were stranded and buried in snow.
“No amount of emergency vehicles can survive the situation we’re talking about,” she said.
About 50 vehicles were involved in an Ohio turnpike, killing four people. A Kansas City, Missouri, driver died Thursday after skidding into a creek, and three others died Wednesday in another crash on icy roads in northern Kansas.
A Vermont woman died Friday in a hospital after strong winds snapped a tree and knocked over her home. Police in Colorado Springs said they found the corpse of a person believed to be homeless as freezing temperatures and snow poured into the area.
More than 1.7 million homes and businesses were affected by the power outage early Saturday, according to PowerOutage, a website that tracks utility reports.
The storm was nearly unprecedented in its extent, from the Great Lakes near Canada to the Rio Grande River along the border with Mexico.
About 60% of the U.S. population faced some kind of winter weather advisory or warning, with temperatures well below normal from east of the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachian Mountains, the National Weather Service said.
Freezing rains blanketed much of the Pacific Northwest with layers of ice, and people in the Northeast faced the threat of coastal and inland flooding.
Frigid temperatures and gusty winds are expected to bring “dangerously cold winds to many parts of the central and eastern United States this holiday weekend,” according to the Bureau of Meteorology, a situation that could pose a “life-threatening threat to travelers.” It could pose a possible danger,” he added. left behind.
As millions of Americans traveled before Christmas, more than 5,700 flights in and out of the US were canceled on Friday, according to tracking site FlightAware.
Meanwhile, in Mexico, immigrants are camping near the US border as they await a US Supreme Court decision on pandemic-era restrictions, preventing many from seeking asylum.
Weather forecasters say a bomb cyclone, a rapid drop in atmospheric pressure during a storm, has formed near the Great Lakes, causing blizzard conditions such as high winds and snow.
Even people in Florida were gearing up for unusually cold weather as a rare freeze warning was issued for much of the state over the holiday weekend.
