Snowstorm causes cancellation of thousands of US flights

Thousands of flights from the United States were canceled Monday and more than 100,000 homes and businesses were left without power as a snowstorm raged along the east coast of New England and Canada, where more than a foot of snow could fall. , according to meteorologists.

More than 2,200 flights were canceled or delayed as of Monday, according to tracking website FlightAware, and more than 128,000 homes and businesses were still without power from Georgia to Maine, according to PowerOutageUs.

As of Sunday, there were more than 3,000 flights canceled in the United States.

The storm could cause 20 to 30 cm of snow to fall in parts of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine on Monday as it heads north into Quebec and Ontario, said Marc Chenard, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service at College. Park Maryland.

Atlanta recorded snow for the first time in four years, the weather service said.

Authorities in the eastern United States urged drivers to avoid snowy roads on Monday, a U.S. holiday honoring murdered civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr.

In North Carolina, where some regions have seen record blizzards, two people died on Sunday when they lost control of their car in Raleigh, according to media reports.

Traffic in Toronto, Canada’s largest city, and other cities in Ontario became congested as storms dumped several inches of snow and brought visibility to near zero.

An extreme weather alert is in effect for much of southeastern Canada, according to Environment Canada, and Toronto is expected to receive up to 60 cm of snow.

More than a third of flights were canceled at Toronto Pearson Airport, Canada’s busiest, and some people were trapped in their vehicles, waiting for the roads to clear.

Buses were at a standstill and passing pedestrians helped push cars down a street on the main passenger route in downtown Toronto that looked as if it hadn’t been plowed.

“This storm is far from over,” Chenard said. “We have winter storm warnings in New England, New York and western Ohio and Pennsylvania. There are strong wind alerts off the coast of New England, from Massachusetts to Maine, with gusts of up to 104 km/h.”