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U.S. NEWSSaturday 23 January 2016
Monster blizzard dumping snow on eastern, southern US
Capitol Hill police officers stands outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Friday, Jan. 22, 2016, gerous storm that can af- Blizzard warnings or watch-
during the March for Life 2016, the annual rally on the anniversary of 1973 ‘Roe v. Wade’ U.S. Su- fect more than 50 million es were in effect along the
preme Court decision legalizing abortion. A massive blizzard began dumping snow on the south- people,” said Louis Uccel- storm’s path, from Arkan-
ern and eastern United States on Friday, with mass flight cancelations, six states declaring states lini, director of the weather sas through Tennessee and
of emergency and more than two feet predicted for Washington alone. service. The snowfall, ex- Kentucky to the mid-Atlan-
pected to continue from tic states and as far north
(AP Photo/Susan Walsh) late Friday into Sunday, as New York.
could easily cause more As far south as Atlanta,
BEN NUCKOLS emergency and more than NWS meteorologist Paul than $1 billion in damage people were urged to go
SETH BORENSTEIN two feet (60 centimeters) Kocin compared it to and paralyze the eastern home and stay there.
Associated Press predicted for Washington “Snowmageddon,” the first third of the nation, he said. Schools and government
WASHINGTON (AP) — A alone. At least seven peo- of two storms that “wiped So far, the snowstorm was offices were closed, thou-
massive blizzard began ple died in storm-related out” Washington in 2010, looking just like the fore- sands of flights were can-
dumping snow on the crashes. but he said the weekend casts promised, NWS fore- celed and millions of peo-
southern and eastern Unit- The National Weather Ser- timing could help limit caster Daniel Petersen said ple stocked up on supplies.
ed States on Friday, with vice said the winter storm deaths and damage. Friday afternoon. Washing- College basketball games
mass flight cancelations, six could rank near the top “It does have the potential ton could get one of its top and concerts in the region
states declaring states of 10 to ever hit the region. to be an extremely dan- three storms in history, he were postponed.
said. Flight tracking service
Uccellini said all the ele- FlightAware said airlines
ments have come togeth- canceled more than 6,000
er to create a blizzard with flights Friday and Saturday.
brutally high winds, danger- By Sunday afternoon, air-
ous inland flooding, white- lines hope to be back to full
out conditions and even schedule.
the possibility of thunder Washington’s subway sys-
snow, when lightning strikes tem said it will shut down
through a snowstorm. entirely late Friday night
Snowfall as heavy as 1 to 3 and remain closed through
inches (2.5 to 7.6 centime- Sunday. About 1,000 track
ters) an hour could con- workers will be deployed to
tinue for 24 hours or more, keep New York City’s sub-
Kocin said. In addition to way system moving and
Washington, 18 to 24 inch- 79 trains will have “scraper
es of snow was predicted shoes” to reduce the icing
for Philadelphia and 8 to 10 on the rails.
inches for New York. The federal government
A state of emergency was closed offices at noon Fri-
declared in Tennessee, day. White House spokes-
North Carolina, Virginia, man Josh Earnest said Presi-
Maryland, Pennsylvania, dent Barack Obama would
the District of Columbia hunker down at the White
and parts of other states. House.q
Airlines cancel thousands of
flights as big storm advances
SCOTT MAYEROWITZ By Sunday afternoon, how-
AP Airlines Writer ever, the airlines hope to
NEW YORK (AP) — Airlines be back to a full schedule
canceled around 6,600 to handle the typical influx
flights to, from or within the ofbusiness travelers head-
U.S. for Friday and Satur- ing out to start a week on
day, as a blizzard began the road.
covering much of the East- Overall, the airlines have
ern U.S. canceled about 13 per-
The bulk of Friday’s 3,000 cent of their scheduled
cancelations are in Char- flights in the U.S. for Friday
lotte and Raleigh, North and Saturday.
Carolina, according to One bit of good news: Sat-
flight tracking service urday is the slowest travel
FlightAware. Another 3,600 day of the week.
flights were canceled for There are a little more than
Saturday. 22,000 flights scheduled to,
Those cancelations center from or within the U.S., ac-
on Philadelphia, Washing- cording to FlightAware.
ton, and New York, with That’s about 5,000 fewer
airlines essentially shutting flights — and 400,000 few-
down all flights into those er passengers — than on
cities. Thursday or Friday.q
