At least five people have lost their lives in the US due to fierce storms affecting the central and eastern parts of the country, which has led to the declaration of a state of emergency in seven states, the cancellation of hundreds of flights, and power supply problems.
Hundreds of flights have been canceled and hundreds of airports have been shut down and power cuts have been disrupted.
At the same time in the western US, California is in a fire ring, with at least 30,000 Los Angeles residents evacuated from their homes and more than 10,000 households threatened in the Pacific Palisades community as the fire continues to spread, the fire department said Tuesday.
“The National Weather Service has forecast that winds will increase and worsen in the west of the country, while in the east and central regions it is predicting temperatures will drop to -18° Celsius with strong wind gusts.
Heavy snowfall initially hit central US states yesterday before spreading to eastern states (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, District of Columbia), resulting in flight cancellations, suspended schools and some public services, and traffic accidents.
More than 50 million people have been affected by the storm surge, of which nearly 200,000 remained without power, mostly in the state of Virginia, according to the website Poweroutage.us. Meanwhile, 2,300 flights were cancelled and thousands more were delayed.
Five people have died in crashes caused by bad weather in Missouri and Kansas, local authorities have noted. A white blanket of snow blankets Washington streets, with children and adults playing snowball fights on sidewalks and parks. Some even went skiing.
The massive winter storm that pounded a 2,000-mile stretch from Kansas to Delaware finally exited the East Coast. About 31 million Americans are under a low temperature alert as the winter storm system heads south
Unusually low temperatures are expected to persist through the end of the week.
Meanwhile, in the southeastern US states, the weather service is forecasting thunderstorms and hail or even snow in the case of Texas, where snowfall is rare, as well as possible tornadoes.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced in X that he has declared a state of emergency.
On the other hand, on the west coast of the US, strong winds are worrying authorities as they, combined with low humidity, are conducive to the spread of wildfires.
Already since yesterday, a fire spreading at a frightening speed has prompted hasty evacuations of residents in the hills overseeing Los Angeles as the fierce winds make matters worse, posing a “mortal danger”, local authorities said. The fire broke out late yesterday morning in the suburb of Pacific Palisades, next to the Santa Monica Mountains, northwest of the sprawling metropolis.
According to eyewitnesses, some homes have already been charred in this extremely expensive area, which is full of vacation homes worth millions of dollars each, some in steep canyons.
By midday, the fire had already spread to more than 3,000 acres outside the Los Angeles city limits, according to the local fire department. A French News Agency photographer saw firefighters battling the flames that engulfed a house.
Actor James Woods shared several videos on his X account as Tuesday’s California fire struck close to home.
“Two houses from us…” posted Woods with a video of his Los Angeles neighbor’s house in flames.
Woods said he evacuated the area and is safe, and praised the Los Angeles fire and police departments for “doing such a good job.”
The fire broke out Tuesday morning (local time, late afternoon in Greece) and quickly grew in size. The first estimate is about 1,000 acres burned.
The fire occurred as Los Angeles is being battered by extremely fierce gusty winds. These are the hot Santa Ana winds, common in California winters, reaching up to 100 miles per hour, according to the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS).
In addition to spreading the flames with tremendous speed, they will complicate things for firefighters, who will likely be deprived of aerial resources in the coming hours.
“Warning. Catastrophic windstorms posing a deadly risk are expected from Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday morning across much of the Los Angeles area,” the NWS warned via X.
“It was going to be a very difficult night” as winds would peak after the sun set, warned Daniel Swain, a UCLA extreme weather expert.
Winds blowing in the region will likely be “the strongest since 2011,” according to the meteorologist. The fire danger is “much higher” than usual for the season, he added.
As, after two years of more rain that revitalized vegetation, Southern California experienced “the driest start to winter on record,” in other words, vegetation has now turned to fuel.
Scientists often warn that climate change will worsen the frequency of weather events labeled extreme.
Many firefighters were deployed and fighting “aggressively” to contain the fire, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass assured. Area residents are urged to heed warnings from authorities and “follow the instructions” of firefighters, the Democratic politician added.
The winds caused problems for President Joe Biden’s visit to California yesterday to announce the creation of two new “national monuments,” vast protected areas in the southern part of the state.
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