(New York) A winter storm on the northeastern coast of the United States and floods in the west of the country cut power to hundreds of thousands of American homes on Wednesday and disrupted public services, while rain and snow are still expected.
According to the specialized site PowerOutage, nearly 200,000 homes and businesses are without power in western California, and many are also affected in five northeastern states, from areas from New York to Boston.
The local meteorological services said heavy snowfall and winds on the Atlantic coast also knocked down trees on roads, making them impassable.
“Our crews are working tirelessly to get power back to everyone,” but “the snow outside is very deep,” the New Hampshire State Emergency and Safety Services warned on Facebook.
She repeatedly called on the authorities to be vigilant, particularly of the risks of injury or heart attacks to the residents who hauled the snow.
In another state, Massachusetts, many school districts kept schools closed on Wednesday, such as Berkshire County where up to 71cm of snow fell.
“An additional 7cm to 20cm of snow is expected over parts of New York state and New England through Wednesday,” the National Weather Service (NWS) said in its latest bulletin Wednesday morning.
PHOTO STEPHEN LAM, associated press
A bus stop in Tahoe City, California on March 14, 2023.
On the other side of the country, California woke up Wednesday to scattered flooding, the consequences of heavy rains that fell on the country’s most populous state, with a population of 39 million.
Atmospheric River will continue to affect California through Wednesday. This powerful storm is expected to bring heavy mountain snow and gusty winds from the Sierra to the central and northern Rocky Mountains,” the NWS warns.
This “atmospheric river” is a giant rainforest that transports water vapor stored in the tropics, often around Hawaii, causing a particularly rainy winter on the West Coast.
Since this weekend, homes have been inundated and cars submerged after the Pajaro River overflowed, breaching a dam overnight Friday through Saturday and causing thousands of people to evacuate south of San Francisco.
Evacuations have also been ordered in central Santa Barbara County, including parts of the upscale coastal enclave of Montecito, where Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, live.
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