‘Bomb cyclone’ wallops US Northeast with record snow

New York: A “bomb cyclone” walloped the US Northeast dumping more than 90 centimeters of snow whipped by 135-kilomtre winds in some areas, cutting off power to nearly half-a-million and canceling about 11,000 flights.

As the storm raged Sunday night into Monday along a 600-kilometre swath of coastal states from Pennsylvania to Massachusetts, governors or local authorities declared states of emergency banning all but essential vehicles on the roads, while emergency crews struggled to cope with the snowy onslaught.

The raging blizzard was dubbed a “bomb cyclone” by weather experts because it was accompanied by a meteorological phenomenon called bombogenesis, which occurs when there is a drop of at least 24 millibars in the pressure at the centre of the storm during a 24-hour period, the rapid change intensifying its ferocity.

Warwick in Rhode Island reported the most snow, 91 centimetres, while winds churned at a134-kilometre speed in Nantucket in neighbouring Massachusetts.

Only two deaths so far have been attributed to the blizzard, both in Rhode Island.

While the snowfall had abated in New York and most other places by Monday evening, the National Weather Service said that heavy snow and strong winds will continue into Tuesday morning across Maine, as the storm goes off the coast.

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey said of the blizzard hitting the region, “This is as bad as I’ve seen it”.

The media in that state described it as “historic”.

More than 300,000 homes were without power in Massachusetts, and 100,000 in New Jersey, as electric lines snapped, mostly because trees toppled over there and elsewhere.

Hundreds of cars, some with the people inside them, were reported stranded in snow-bound roadways.

It was the worst blizzard in a decade in New York City, which was recovering from another snowstorm last month.

The 45 centimetres of snow recorded in Central Park ranked it the ninth-highest snowfall.

New York’s Governor Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency and announced what amounted to a curfew for non-essential vehicles on Sunday for the parts of the state close to the coast.

In the heavy snowfall and cold wave last month, at least18 people, most of them homeless, died in the cold because Mayor Zohran Mamdani had promised in his campaign that the homeless would not be made to leave their encampments.

This time, however, he changed his stance and asked social, medical and police services to get the vulnerable off the streets, and he declared at a news conference on Monday that there were no deaths.

The bustling city roads were barren on Monday, and by evening, city buses slowly ventured out.

Many tourists flocked to Times Square amid the cleared snow piled into mini-mountains by emergency workers.

While stocks traded on Wall Street and other markets in city powered by traders and investors working from home, most offices, including the United Nations, and schools were closed because of the travel restrictions.

In some places like Rhode Island, schools and offices will be closed on Tuesday as well.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which would have to provide assistance in disasters like this, is under the Homeland Security Department, whose budget is on hold because of Democrats’ demand that the department put restrictions on the conduct of immigration officers who shot dead two US citizens during confrontations with protestors.

President Donald Trump’s administration gave the assurance that the agency would be able to provide immediate disaster relief.

IANS