Much of the United States was again hit Wednesday by heavy rain and snow brought by a winter storm that has already killed five people and deprived hundreds of thousands of homes of electricity.
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“A strong Arctic front is moving south from Canada on Wednesday, and this will herald the arrival of the lowest temperatures so far this season for the Northern Plains region, with temperatures below -18°C.” in several central states close to Canada, warned the national weather service, the NWS.
The thermometer will also drop below 0°C as far as Oklahoma, in the south of the country, by Friday, he added in a press release.
The NWS also forecasts significant flooding along the Atlantic coast.
AFP
At least three people were killed in the storm in the south of the country, according to local authorities.
An octogenarian in Alabama lost her life when a tornado tore away her mobile home, turning it over several times, according to Houston County authorities.
AFP
Two other people were killed in the north of the country, in road accidents partly explained by weather conditions.
Blizzard
In an interview with local media, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy implored residents not to underestimate the storm, calling it “unusual.”
Tornadoes struck the Southeast, including Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis placed 49 counties under a state of emergency. Drone footage showed trees lying on the ground and buildings with their roofs torn off.
AFP
More than 400,000 homes and businesses remained without electricity on Wednesday, mainly in the east of the country, according to the monitoring site Poweroutage.us, down however compared to the figure the day before, which was around 900,000 private homes and businesses current.
In the northwest United States, the winter storm “will continue to bring heavy snowfall today” across several mountain ranges, the NWS warned, while “blizzard conditions will persist along the West Coast of Alaska.
Getty Images via AFP
These bad weather also had a strong impact on air traffic, with more than 650 flights canceled and more than 10,000 delayed on Wednesday departing from or arriving in the United States, according to the FlightAware.com website.
Vice President Kamala Harris’ plane, Air Force 2, also had to detour Tuesday to land further from the coast.
