Winter Storm Leaves 175,000 Without Power, Grounds 1,400 Flights

Topline

Hundreds of thousands of households along the East Coast remained without power and over 1,000 flights in the U.S. were canceled Monday, as the fallout from Sunday’s brutal winter storm continued. 

Key Facts

Nearly 175,000 households in nine states did not have power Monday, with the worst outages happening in Southern states that aren’t used to the cold temperatures, snow, ice and high winds they were pummeled with, according to PowerOutage.us. 

A majority of the outages, 29,700, occurred in South Carolina, where some parts of the state saw a high of 9.5 inches of snowfall, according to the National Weather Service. 

North Carolina, which saw a maximum of 20 inches of snow, had nearly 28,000 outages; West Virginia, which saw a high of 14 inches, had over 25,500 outages and Georgia, which saw a high of 10 inches, had nearly 22,000 outages. 

Over 1,400 flights into or out of the U.S. were canceled Monday, and most of the cancellations were at the Charlotte/Douglas International Airport in North Carolina, where 33% of outgoing flights and 31% of incoming flights were canceled, according to FlightAware.com. 

On Sunday, Virginia State Police responded to over 1,000 crashes and disabled vehicles, according to a tweet from the department, and there were more than 400 crashes in North Carolina, according to CNN. 

Key Background

Sunday, over 2,800 U.S. flights were canceled because of the harsh weather. American Airlines, which canceled 22% of its Sunday flights, told Forbes the storm had a “significant impact on our operation.” After hitting the South East, the storm turned north, hitting Pennsylvania, New York and Massachusetts, though some parts of the states got rain instead of snow. The National Weather Service said heavy snow is expected Monday in the Lower Great Lakes, the central Appalachians and the Northeast, and in the Upper Great Lakes on Tuesday. 

Further Reading

Over 2,800 U.S. Flights Canceled As Winter Storm Strikes South (Forbes) 

Winter Storm Pushes North After Bringing Snow to the South (New York Times)

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2022/01/17/winter-storm-leaves-175000-without-power-grounds-1400-flights/