News / Society

‘Extremely dangerous storm’ begins dumping snow in US

Friday, 22 January 2016 7:20 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 25 January 2016 9:41 AM ]

A powerful storm barreled toward Washington, DC, on Friday, threatening to bury parts of the East Coast under as much as 30 inches (76 cm) of snow.

An “extremely dangerous storm” began dumping snow on the eastern and southern parts of United States on Friday, prompting five states to declare states of emergency and threatening to cripple the lives of more than 50 million people.

The National Weather Service said the storm had the potential to paralyze a broad region of the East Coast, with about 2 feet (61 cm) of snow due to hit the Baltimore and Washington metro areas starting on Friday afternoon.

Western suburbs could get even more snow while the New York area was expected to get a little less.

"It does have the potential to be an extremely dangerous storm that can affect more than 50 million people," said Louis Uccellini, director of the National Weather Service. The snowfall, expected to continue from late Friday into Sunday, could easily cause more than $1 billion in damage and paralyze the eastern third of the nation, he said.

Snowfall as heavy as 2.7 inches (7 cm) an hour could continue for 24 hours or more, National Weather Service meteorologist Paul Kocin said.

AccuWeather senior meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said the storm could bring Washington one of its biggest snowfalls on record, eclipsing the "Snowmageddon" storm of 2010 that dropped 17.8 inches (45.2 cm).

"I want to be very clear with everybody. This is a major storm," Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said as the nation's capital braced for what could turn out to be one of the worst storms in its history.

"This has life-and-death implications and all the residents of the District of Columbia should treat it that way."

A state of emergency was declared in Virginia, Maryland, Tennessee, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Washington, DC, and parts of other states.

Schools and government offices were closed, thousands of flights were canceled and millions of people stocked up on supplies.

The federal government announced that its offices would be closing at noon Friday. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said US President Barack Obama would take shelter at the White House.

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