A massive winter storm that swept across the eastern and southern United States caused widespread disruption on Sunday, leaving more than 1 million customers without electricity and forcing the cancellation of over 10,800 flights.
The storm brought snow, sleet, freezing rain, and dangerously low temperatures across the eastern two-thirds of the country. Power outages continued to rise as the severe weather progressed.
As of 2:16 p.m. on Sunday, PowerOutage.us reported more than 1 million U.S. customers without electricity. The hardest-hit states included Tennessee (at least 330,000 outages) and Mississippi and Louisiana (over 100,000 each). Other affected states included Texas, Kentucky, Georgia, West Virginia, and Alabama.
The flight-tracking website FlightAware reported more than 10,800 flight cancellations on Sunday, following over 4,000 cancellations on Saturday. Washington’s Ronald Reagan National Airport announced that all flights were canceled for Sunday. Several major airports in New York, Philadelphia, and Charlotte, N.C., experienced cancellation rates of over 80 percent.
Delta Air Lines said it would operate on a reduced schedule, depending on weather conditions and frozen precipitation. The airline had already adjusted its schedule on Saturday, especially for Atlanta and the East Coast, and moved staff from cold-weather hubs to support de-icing and baggage operations at several southern airports.
The National Weather Service forecast heavy snow from the Ohio Valley to the Northeast through Monday morning, with New England expected to receive up to 18 inches. Much of the Southeast and parts of the Mid-Atlantic were expected to experience rain and freezing rain.
Forecasters also warned of “bitterly cold temperatures and dangerously cold wind chills” following the storm, which could lead to prolonged travel disruptions and infrastructure damage.
Emergency Declarations Issued
President Donald Trump declared the storms “historic” and approved federal emergency disaster declarations for 11 states: South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, Maryland, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Indiana, and West Virginia.
The Department of Homeland Security reported that 17 states and the District of Columbia declared weather emergencies on Saturday.
Officials warned that power lines could be particularly vulnerable due to ice accumulation, which could keep lines heavy and at risk of failure for an extended period.
The Department of Energy issued emergency orders to support power grid operations. These included authorizing the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to deploy backup generation resources and allowing grid operator PJM Interconnection to run specified resources in the mid-Atlantic region without being limited by state laws or environmental permits. Grid operators also increased precautions to prevent rotating blackouts.
Dominion Energy, which operates Virginia’s largest collection of data centers, warned that the storm could be one of the largest winter events to affect the company if its ice forecast proved accurate.
Source: Reuters
