The most intense winter storm in recent years in the Northeastern United States has spread to 30 inches of snow in some areas of Pennsylvania and New York, and so far there have been two deaths, multiple injuries, multiple accidents, canceled flights and people without electricity.
In addition, in New York, near the bridge connecting Manhattan to the Bronx, another collision of several vehicles took place, leaving half a dozen people hospitalized but without serious injuries, the paper reported.
The storm has caused that more than 1,300 flights scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday and caused power cuts in more than 64,000 households.
Just a few days after the start of the Covid-19 vaccination campaign, the storm also threatened to hamper the mass public health operation from the Appalachians to the metropolitan areas of Washington DC, Baltimore and Philadelphia, according to the latest update from the National Weather Service (NWS).
“The great storm will hit areas in the north of (the region known as the) Mid-Atlantic to southern New England through Thursday morning, ”the NWS said.
“Heavy snowfall figures are expected –In some areas more than 2 inches per hour for a total of up to 30 cm– since central Pennsylvania to southern New York and southern New England through Thursday, ”the agency warned in a tweet.
Freezing temperatures and a combination of snow, ice and gusts of wind have caused damage in areas with many trees and some power outages. As has already happened in Virginia, where snow brought down tree branches and disrupted power to thousands of homes and businesses.
State police said she was called to assist about 200 accidents, including an accident on Interstate 81 where The North Carolina man has passed away during the afternoon of this Wednesday.
A pandemic storm
All this in the midst of an unprecedented pandemic. “Our theme today should be, ‘If it’s not one, it’s another,” said New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, who gave residents a storm guide that’s new this year: wear a mask when helping your neighbors shovel, the AP agency said.
In a situation that may be repeating in the rest of the affected areas, the governor explained that they had taken precautions so that the 35 deliveries of vaccines planned for hospitals in New Jersey were not delayed in the next few days, with the exception of the trucks that carry the antidote. of a ban on commercial traffic on some roads.
For his part, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo reported the shipment of first-round vaccines It was already spread over about 90 hospitals and that the next delivery will start until next Tuesday, when the storm has passed.
United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar said on Wednesday that the government is closely monitoring shipments of vaccines, that it already has personnel to receive them and that it believes the companies that transport them can weather the storm . “because they know how to deal with snow and bad weather”.
