A violent winter storm crossed part of the United States on Tuesday, causing tornadoes in the south and killing three people according to local authorities, with hundreds of thousands of homes deprived of electricity. Heavy rains leading to flooding, strong winds with gusts exceeding 80 km/h and thunderstorms are affecting the east coast of the United States, according to the National Weather Service (NWS), the American meteorological agency. “Don’t underestimate this one,” warned New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, calling the storm “unusual.”
Kamala Harris’ plane diverted
Deteriorating weather led Air Force 2, Vice President Kamala Harris’ plane, to be diverted to Dulles International Airport in Virginia, instead of landing at Andrews Air Force Base. in Maryland. 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. At least three people were killed in the storm in the south of the country, according to local authorities.
In North Carolina, one person was killed on a lot of mobile homes, several of which were damaged, according to Catawba County officials. In Georgia, a tree falling on a vehicle killed another person, according to Clayton County police. In Alabama, an octogenarian lost her life when a tornado hit her mobile home, according to authorities in Houston County.
More than 890,000 homes without electricity
More than 890,000 customers were without electricity Tuesday evening, mainly in the east of the country, according to the monitoring site Poweroutage.us. This winter storm also brought significant snowfall to the north-central part of the country (2 to 5 cm per hour), precipitation which is now gradually affecting the Great Lakes region, according to the meteorological service. In the northwest United States, snowstorm warnings were also issued, for the first time in a decade, in the Cascade and Olympic mountain ranges, according to the New York Times.
Snowstorms are expected to continue there on Wednesday and lead to snow accumulations of “several” centimeters in the region, according to the NWS. “According to updated National Weather forecasts, widespread power outages are now expected,” local authorities wrote in a statement, pointing to the risk of flooding and coastal flooding. This bad weather is already having an impact on air traffic, with more than 1,300 flights canceled and 8,600 delayed Tuesday across the United States, according to the FlightAware.com website.