U.S. storm leaves 1 million without power, forces thousands of flight cancellations

More than 1 million customers in the U.S., as far west as Texas, were without power on Sunday (25 January), according to PowerOutage.us. Estimates suggested more than 10,000 flights would be cancelled.

Forecasters warned that the storm would sweep across the eastern two-thirds of the country from Sunday into next week, bringing dangerously cold temperatures and widespread ice accumulation that could cause “crippling to locally catastrophic impacts”, according to the National Weather Service.

Calling the storms "historic," U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday approved federal emergency disaster declarations in South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, Maryland, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Indiana and West Virginia.

"We will continue to monitor, and stay in touch with all States in the path of this storm. Stay Safe, and Stay Warm," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

Severe to locally catastrophic impacts forecast

Seventeen states and the District of Columbia have declared weather emergencies, the Department of Homeland Security said.

A powerful winter storm spread a paralyzing mix of heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain from the Ohio Valley and mid-South to New England on Sunday, compounded by bitter Arctic cold gripping much of the U.S. east of the Rockies.

Winter storm warnings covered 118 million people, and an estimated 157 million were urged to brace for temperatures ranging from sub-zero along the Canadian border to below freezing near the Gulf of Mexico.

Wind chills plunged to minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit in the northern Plains.

Some of the heaviest snowfall, up to one foot or more since the storm developed on Friday, was recorded in parts of Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.
 

New York Governor Kathy Hochul mobilised National Guard troops in New York City, Long Island and the Hudson Valley to assist with emergency response efforts.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, at a news conference on Saturday, warned Americans to take precautions.

"It’s going to be very, very cold," Noem said. "So we'd encourage everybody to stock up on fuel, stock up on food, and we will get through this together."

"We have utility crews that are working to restore that as quick as possible," Noem added.

The number of outages continued to rise. Power failures spread across the South as freezing rain deposited layers of ice up to an inch thick, toppling tree limbs and transmission lines.

More than 1 million homes and businesses from Texas to the Carolinas were without electricity at the height of the storm on Sunday, with Tennessee accounting for about a third of all outages.

More than 800,000 customers remained without power late Sunday, according to PowerOutage.us.

Energy department orders backup resources

The National Weather Service warned of an unusually expansive and long-duration winter storm that would bring widespread, heavy ice accumulation in the Southeast, where "crippling to locally catastrophic impacts" can be expected.

Weather service forecasters predicted record cold temperatures and dangerously cold wind chills descending further into the Great Plains region by Monday as more Arctic air rushed in behind the departing system.

The Department of Energy on Saturday issued an emergency order authorising the Electric Reliability Council of Texas to deploy backup generation resources at data centres and other major facilities to limit blackouts.

On Sunday, the DOE issued an emergency order allowing PJM Interconnection to run specified resources in the mid-Atlantic region beyond normal permitting limits.

Airlines and grid operators prepare for disruptions

More than 10,200 U.S. flights scheduled for Sunday were cancelled, according to flight tracking website FlightAware, with over 4,000 flights cancelled on Saturday.

Major U.S. airlines warned passengers to stay alert for abrupt changes, and more than 11,000 flights were ultimately cancelled by Sunday as heavy snow, sleet and ice hampered operations across major hubs.

Ronald Reagan National Airport in Virginia was effectively closed altogether, while airports serving New York, Philadelphia and Charlotte saw cancellations affecting at least 80% of flights.

Delta Air Lines DAL.N adjusted its schedule on Saturday, with additional cancellations in the morning for Atlanta and along the East Coast, including in Boston and New York City.

It would relocate experts from cold-weather hubs to support de-icing and baggage teams at several southern airports, the airline said.

JetBlue JBLU.O said that as of Saturday morning it had canceled about 1,000 flights through Monday.

United Airlines UAL.O said it had proactively canceled some flights in places with the worst expected weather. 

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