Washington - The US government shut down on Wednesday
ahead of a fierce snowstorm packing heavy, wet snow that had blanketed the
Midwest, leaving thousands without power and forcing hundreds of flights to be
cancelled.
Washington could get slammed by its biggest snowfall in
as much as two years, with 15cm to 30cm expected after the storm moved eastward
into the mid-Atlantic states, the National Weather Service said.
The government, already hit by $85bn in overall budget
cuts that took effect on Friday, ordered 375 000 federal workers in the
Washington area to stay home.
Major school districts in the area also shut down ahead
of the storm, which is packing winds of up to 56km/h.
Airlines cancelled about 1 500 flights, including about
700 at Washington's Reagan, Dulles and Baltimore/Washington airports.
About 1 700 flights were called off on Tuesday as the
storm moved across the north central United States.
The heavy, wet snow was expected to bring down power
lines and tree limbs.
About 54 000 Dominion Resources customers were without
power in Virginia, and American Electric Power and FirstEnergy Corp reported 5 000
customers in West Virginia were in the dark.
The National Weather Service forecast heavy rains on the
Atlantic coast.
The New Jersey Office of Emergency Management said it was
monitoring a coastal storm expected to bring heavy rain, high winds, snow and
coastal flooding through on Friday morning.
The weather service said the system dumped 23cm of snow
on Chicago's O'Hare International Airport by the time the winter storm warning
had expired at midnight on Tuesday, making it the city's biggest snowstorm in
two years.
During the Tuesday evening rush hour, wind-whipped snow
reduced visibility to 0.8 km and caused delays on roads.
Monique Bond, a spokesperson with the Illinois State
Patrol, said bad weather may have contributed to a deadly crash on Interstate
Highway 70 in Marshall, Illinois, near the Indiana border.
A female driver heading east on I-70 crossed the median
and crashed into a westbound tanker truck. The driver of the car and her young
child died in the accident.
Southwest Airlines, which cancelled nearly 250 flights
out of Chicago's Midway Airport, resumed flight operations on Tuesday evening,
the city's aviation department said.
