Unprecedented Blizzard Claims 19 Lives In U.S
KABUL: (MEP) At least 19 people have been killed in several states of the United States as millions of residents, business owners and workers began digging out on Sunday from a massive blizzard that brought Washington, New York and other northeastern U.S. cities to a standstill.
According to the National Weather Service, the storm was the second-biggest in New York City history, with 26.8 inches (68 cm) by midnight Saturday, just shy of the record 26.9 inches set in 2006.
Thirteen people have lost lives in weather-related car crashes in Arkansas, North Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia on Saturday while one person died in Maryland and three in New York City while shoveling snow. Two died of hypothermia in Virginia, officials said.
After dumping about two feet of snow on the Washington area, the storm unexpectedly strengthened as it spun northward and slammed into the New York metropolitan area on Saturday, home to about 20 million people.
Snowstorm ‘Jonas’ caused six meter waves, as well as hurricane-force winds with speeds of up to 120 kilometers per hour in the town of Rehobeth Beach, Delaware. Town beaches have overflowed. Water in Lewes – another Delaware city – rose to its second-highest record level, beating that witnessed during Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
A number of cities in neighboring New Jersey suffered from severe floods: The streets of Atlantic City, Sea Isle, North Wildwood and Cape May were submerged.
Both Delaware and New Jersey’s governors as well as the heads of eight more states including Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia declared a state of emergency.
In New Jersey 40,000 people suffered power cuts on Saturday according to CBS News.
