The strongest blizzard in 10 years hit the United States, leaving 130,000 households without power, canceling thousands of flights, and declaring a state of emergency in multiple states!
As of January 25, more than 130,000 homes and businesses across the country were without electricity, mainly concentrated in Pennsylvania, western New York, and West Virginia. Power companies reported that in some areas, the snow was too heavy and the wind speed exceeded 80 kilometers per hour, making it impossible for repair personnel to work safely. At the same time, the aviation system came to a standstill - a total of 12,000 flights were canceled on that day, accounting for nearly 40% of scheduled flights, with Chicago O'Hare, Philadelphia, and Washington Dulles airports almost completely shut down all day. Such a large-scale aviation disruption is extremely rare in non-pandemic years.
21 states declared a state of emergency one after another. This means that the state government can use emergency funds, mobilize the National Guard, and bypass routine procurement procedures to quickly obtain supplies. Behind the empty supermarket shelves are the panic buying by residents several days in advance combined with logistics disruptions: On the night before the blizzard, milk, bread, bottled water, and generators sales in the northeastern states increased by more than 300%, while delivery trucks could not restock due to road closures, leading to a temporary breakdown of the supply chain.
More worrying is the impact on vulnerable groups. The current number of homeless people in the United States has exceeded 650,000, reaching a record high. In extreme cold, shelters in many places were overcrowded, and some cities had to open stadiums and libraries as temporary shelters. For this reason, the White House urgently halted the planned staff reduction at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) during the peak of the storm - this detail reveals the concern of the federal level about its ability to respond. FEMA's budget has been continuously cut in recent years, and if further staff reductions occur, it may be difficult to support the federal aid requests from multiple states simultaneously.
This blizzard originated from the southward movement of the polar vortex and the violent convergence of the Atlantic warm and moist air mass over the eastern part of North America, forming what is known as a "bomb cyclone" - a rapidly intensifying storm that sees its central pressure drop by at least 24 hectopascals within 24 hours. A similar intensity system caused widespread destruction on the eastern coast of the United States last time, which was the "Jonas" blizzard in 2016. However, this time, the storm path was more southern, covering a vast area from New England to the Mid-Atlantic, even extending into the Appalachian mountain region, affecting a population of more than 70 million.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1855341537351808/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.