VIDEO – Heavy snow, extreme cold, tornadoes… A major winter storm hits the United States

They are 80 million to have returned to get warm. A winter storm “major” hits the eastern United States with its share of snow and ice, causing power outages, as well as disruptions in road and air transport. The National Weather Service (NWS) has warned that up to 30 centimeters of snow is expected, between Sunday January 16 and Monday January 17, and could blanket an area that stretches from Tennessee and Georgia in the Southeast to Vermont. and New York State in the Northeast with freezing rain and strong winds, up to hurricane force.

“Arctic air already in place in the central and eastern United States will combine with this dynamic system to create a thick layer of more than 30 centimeters of snow”, said the NWS, which forecasts along the Appalachian Mountain Range snowfall of 2.5 cm per hour on Monday and freezing conditions on Tuesday. Several states reported traffic disruptions in the evening. In addition, some 3,000 domestic or international flights were canceled Sunday, mid-afternoon, according to the FlightAware site, and about 4,200 were delayed.

More accustomed to mild weather even at this time of year, Florida was indirectly affected when several tornadoes accompanied by snow, caused by this winter storm caused property damage and caused coastal flooding on Sunday, according to the Weather Channel. From North and South Carolina up the Appalachians, ice and gusty winds complicate the situation. Power outages affected up to 235,000 people in the Southeast, including more than 150,000 in the Carolinas, according to the PowerOutage.us website, but power appeared to be restored in several areas in the evening, causing the number of people without electricity at less than 145,000.

In Georgia, another state among the most affected, Governor Brian Kemp had declared a state of emergency on Friday, and snowplows were at work to clear the roads. Atlanta, a city with a mild climate, saw snowfall for the first time in four years. Virginia, where traffic was halted on a major downstate highway, and North Carolina also declared states of emergency.

More than 30 centimeters of snow fell on the latter state, according to Governor Roy Cooper, who said on Twitter one “heavy icing was causing problems in the central part of the state”, while calling on the population to stay safe and avoid travel. In this same state, students experienced a big scare with the collapse of the roof of a university residence, according to the local channel ABC, an incident which did not cause any injuries. “It was very scary”, said Melody Ferguson, a student at Brevard College. “I’m still shaking”. The storm is expected to make landfall in Eastern Canada on Tuesday.