A huge snowstorm brought chaos to the United States’ east coast Monday, cancelling thousands of flights, closing schools and forcing the postponement of coronavirus vaccinations as New York City steeled itself for possibly one of its heaviest ever snowfalls.
The National Weather Service (NWS) issued storm warnings from Virginia to Maine — home to tens of millions of people — as heavy snow mixed with wind gusts up to 50 miles (80 kilometres) per hour spurred blizzard-like conditions along the eastern seaboard.
New York declared a “state of emergency” that restricted non-essential travel, moved all children back to remote learning and rescheduled long-awaited vaccine shots as the city braced for almost two feet (60 centimetres) of snow.
Salt trucks and snow plows moved out across New York’s streets, already quieter than usual due to Covid-19, as Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the few children who had returned to pandemic-era classrooms would also stay at home on Tuesday.
“There will be locusts, next, at the rate we’re going,” quipped de Blasio, who also suspended outdoor dining in the latest blow to the city’s beleaguered pandemic-hit restaurants, on MSNBC.
More than 1,600 US flights were canceled — mostly at airports in New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington — disrupting travel that has already been heavily curtailed by the pandemic.
Airlines canceled all flights in and out of LaGuardia Airport and JFK Airport, while 71 percent of flights were scrapped at Newark Liberty Airport…..read more
Source: France24
