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Snowstorms strand thousands
24/01/2005 08:34 - (SA)
New York - Travellers were stranded across the northeastern United States on Sunday as a fierce blizzard closed airports and made roads treacherous.
"Any travel in strongly discouraged," the National Weather Service warned Massachusetts residents. "If you leave the safety of being indoors, you are putting your life at risk."
Boston's Logan International Airport as well as the airport in Providence, Rhode Island, were closed and thousands of flights were delayed or cancelled at airports in northeastern and midwestern US states.
A blizzard warning was in effect on Sunday for parts of eastern New York and New England with the National Weather Service warning the storm could rival the "Great Blizzard" of 1978.
"A few locations will likely approach or even exceed amounts (of snow) received during the 1978 blizzard," the service said in a "hazardous weather outlook."
"This is likely to be a record-setting snowstorm in Boston when comparing against data dating back to 1892," it said.
The service warned of the dangers of snow drifts and possible power outages on Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney declared a state of emergency in his northeastern state where up to 96cm of snow was expected to fall by Sunday night.
More than a thousand flights in and out of New York and Boston, and 700 at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, were cancelled on Saturday.
Complete and utter mess
"It's a complete and utter mess," said Rally Caparas, an air travel expert with Travelocity.com, which reported a total of 3 000 flight cancellations on its web site.
Philadelphia International Airport in Pennsylvania reopened on Sunday after being closed late on Saturday because of poor visibility, officials said, but significant delays as well as flight cancellations were reported at other airports including some in New Jersey, Baltimore in Maryland, and Washington.
British airports cancelled 31 flights to and from the region, British officials said in London on Sunday. London's main Heathrow airport cancelled 29 arrivals and departures after heavy snowfall in New York, Boston and Philadelphia.
US authorities begged people to stay off the roads as high winds blowing snow produced whiteout conditions from New York to Maine, bringing normally congested cities to a standstill.
"This really is a dangerous storm," warned New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, appearing at a press conference with emergency officials on Saturday. "I don't think you should take it lightly."
Philadelphia authorities urged people to check on elderly friends, neighbours and relatives to make sure they have enough heat and food.
A large sector of Toronto, Canada's largest city, was without power on Sunday after a water main burst, apparently from frigid temperatures a day after the giant storm hammered southern Canada.
Several large hospitals used emergency power generators as repair crews braved temperatures as low as ?20°C.
- AFP
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