Washington.- The great storm that is affecting much of the United States has left thousands of people without electricity and thousands unable to travel by plane on Christmas Eve.
About 200 million people, 60% of the country’s population, are in areas where severe winter storms are occurring or will occur, according to the national weather service, the National Weather Service (NWS).
This great storm, “once in a generation” as the NWS is defining it these days, began affecting the Midwest of the country but this Friday it is intensifying and is already extending eastward, both to the north and south.
As of Friday morning, more than 3,400 flights had already been canceled, many of them in large cities such as New York, Detroit, Seattle, Chicago, Denver and Boston, according to FlightAware data.
In addition, there are three regional airports and one international airport (Michigan) closed, and several with takeoff operations already stopped, according to data on the Aviation Administration (FAA) website.
Transportation problems also affect trains and bus companies such as Greyhound, the largest of which has already warned that many routes in the Northeast or Midwest may be canceled or altered.
On its website, the national meteorological service warns from the beginning about the extraordinary nature of this “immense” storm and announces that heavy rainfall will affect a good part of the country, especially the east, during the day.
It thus warns, among other inclemencies, of the powerful “arctic front” that is sweeping the eastern third of the country, the heavy snowfall that will cover the Great Lakes region and the New England area and the “significant rain” that may also cross the northwest.
US President Joe Biden appeared publicly on Thursday to warn Americans to take the storm “extremely seriously” and follow the recommendations of authorities.
