US

Thousands of flights cancelled as blizzard hits northeast US

Governors in four states declare states of emergency as up to 60cm of snow is forecast

Two snowmen sit in Central Park in New York. Winter storm Stella dumped sleet and snow across the northeastern US on Tuesday but spared New York from the worst. Photograph: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images

Tue Mar 14 2017 - 23:57

A blizzard swept through the heavily populated northeastern United States on Tuesday, grounding flights, cancelling classes and encasing Washington’s famed cherry blossoms in ice.

Some 50 million people from Pennsylvania to Maine faced a “rapidly intensifying nor’easter” that was unusual for striking so late in the winter, according to the national weather service (NWS). Many heeded official advice to stay home.

The NWS sharply dialled back forecasts for some areas, notably New York City, where residents had been warned to steel themselves for potentially record-breaking snow.

Still, some in the region could expect up to 60cm (24 inches) of snow by early Wednesday, the weather service predicted, with the worst blizzard conditions forecast for parts of New England.

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State of emergency

Governors in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia declared a state of emergency. Overground parts of New York City’s subway service were suspended, and Metro-North commuter service to the suburbs shut down at noon. Train services to Boston and Albany were also suspended.

New York City was expected to escape the worst of the weather after the NWS withdrew its blizzard warning and roughly halved its snowfall forecast for the city to 10-20cm (four to eight inches).

“Mother Nature is an unpredictable lady sometimes,” the state’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, said at a news conference. “She was unpredictable today.” Areas upstate were already buried in more snow than forecast, he said, and up to 76cm (30 inches) of snow was still expected in central parts of the state.

Still, life was disrupted for many in the city.

“It’s a ghost town,” Ali Naji said as he sat listening to Mexican pop music amid the emptiness of his usually bustling convenience store in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene neighbourhood.

His morning commute was easy enough since he lives upstairs. “I drop a rope and come down,” Naji said, laughing, but added that he could see why others would be deterred. He gestured out the window, where an occasional pedestrian could be seen trudging in an umbrella-forward stoop against the wind and sleet.

In Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighbourhood, Lisa Luna and a friend walked around, hungry for breakfast.

“We weren’t prepared for the blizzard and didn’t go shopping,” she said. “I just needed a bagel.”

Flights cancelled

Airlines cancelled about 5,900 flights across the US, according to tracking service FlightAware.com.

American Airlines cancelled all flights into New York’s three airports – Newark, LaGuardia and John F Kennedy International Airport – and JetBlue Airways reported extensive cancellations.

Delta Air Lines cancelled 800 flights for Tuesday for New York, Boston and other northeast airports. United Airlines said it would have no operations at Newark or LaGuardia.

New York City public schools – the largest US school system – cancelled classes on Tuesday, as did schools in the Washington, DC, area, Boston, Philadelphia and northern New Jersey. Electricity companies worked to restore power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses cut off by the storm.

In Washington, federal agencies opened three hours later than normal.

At the open-sided Thomas Jefferson Memorial, the ice-slick marble floor served as a skating rink for some of the 71 eighth graders visiting from St Mary’s Academy in Englewood, Colorado.

Math teacher Michael Pattison ticked off all the monuments and museums the students would see that day.

“This weather is not going to stop us,” he said, clapping his gloved hands.

“No, it’s not,” a couple of students shouted back.

Nearby, scores of cherry trees in early bloom, a tourist attraction and an emblem of springtime in the capital, were encased in ice.

The storm comes near the end of an unusually mild winter along much of the east coast, with below-normal snowfalls.

In Boston, Kelley Peace, a dog walker, was out with three of her charges in the Beacon Hill neighbourhood, where residents braced for up to 25cm of snow.

“The dogs are more hyper in this weather,” she said. “They want to play. Especially the big dogs. The only thing is the salt. It burns their paws. So I put booties on them.” – (Reuters)

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