Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: More than 11,000 flights were canceled and over 500,000 homes and offices were left without electricity as a massive winter storm started to taper off across eight states of the Northeastern USA on Monday evening, smashing old records and spraying human settlements with one-and-a-half feet of snow.
The impact of this ‘bomb cyclone’ is expected to remain for several days, the media reported on Tuesday.
Vehicle drivers in some parts of Massachusetts were ordered to stay off the roads as officials struggled to catch up after whiteout conditions engulfed the state’s South Coast.
Manhattan’s Central Park recorded about 20 inches (50 cm) of snow until Monday. Islip on Long Island received more than 22 inches, according to the National Weather Service.
By Monday afternoon, however, the snow was dwindling off across New York and conditions were improving, said Jim Connolly, a National Weather Service meteorologist.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani lifted the directive that closed streets, highways and bridges to most traffic. City schools will be open for in-person instruction Tuesday.
The storm, however, still disrupted transportation across the Northeast and beyond. Amtrak suspended service between New York and Boston through Monday night, and cancellations mounted nationwide.
Heavy snow damaged power lines and caused outages stretching from Virginia to Massachusetts.
The heaviest snow and strongest winds swept across Long Island into Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts.
travel
Air travel across the region was severely disrupted. More than 11,000 flights were cancelled, as airlines pre-emptively grounded aircraft ahead of the storm’s peak. Monday alone accounted for over 5,000 cancellations, with 1,300 already scrapped for Tuesday as carriers prepared a cautious return to service.
The blizzard blanketed cities in thick snow and left millions of people stuck at home as roads turned treacherous and public transport shut down. Streets usually packed with commuters fell quiet, airports emptied and schools closed as heavy snowfall and fierce winds brought daily life close to a standstill.
Major hubs, including New York’s JFK and LaGuardia airports, Boston Logan and Newark Liberty, were among the worst affected. Rail and bus networks also suspended services in several states, stranding commuters and leaving normally crowded terminals quiet.
On the ground, officials imposed sweeping travel restrictions. New York City banned non-essential travel until midday Monday, while parts of New York state, New Jersey and Rhode Island issued similar orders.
According to local media, meteorologists said the storm met blizzard criteria, with sustained winds above 35 mph and gusts reaching 40-60 mph from Delaware to Massachusetts. Coastal locations including eastern Long Island and Nantucket reported gusts above 60 mph, driving drifts several feet high.
The National Weather Service warned that travel conditions were “nearly impossible” across parts of the Interstate 95 corridor, where crashes and stranded vehicles caused hours-long delays.
“The combination of heavy snowfall and strong winds will continue to produce blizzard conditions along the Northeastern Seaboard,” the weatherman added on Monday. “Sharply reduced visibility will make travel extremely treacherous across these areas.”
power off
The snowstorm also knocked out electricity to more than 570,000 homes and businesses across the East Coast. Massachusetts and New Jersey were hardest hit, followed by Delaware and Rhode Island. Utility crews worked in high winds and deep snow to restore service as temperatures dropped, the reports said.
State leaders activated emergency responses. New York Governor Kathy Hochul deployed National Guard members to assist in the most affected regions, including Long Island and the lower Hudson Valley. Massachusetts declared a state of emergency and ordered non-essential state workers to stay home.
The United Nations headquarters in New York closed for the day as the storm intensified across the city.
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