Today's Edition
DALLAS (AP)
More than 8,000 flights across the US set to take off over the weekend have been cancelled as a major storm expected to wreak havoc across much of the country bears down, threatening to knock out power for days and snarl major roadways.
Roughly 140 million people were under a winter storm warning from New Mexico to New England.
The National Weather Service forecast warned of widespread heavy snow and a band of catastrophic ice stretching from east Texas to North Carolina. Forecasters say damage, especially in areas pounded by ice, could rival that of a hurricane.
By Friday night, the edge of the storm was sending freezing rain and sleet into parts of Texas while snow and sleet were falling in Oklahoma.
After sweeping through the South, the storm was expected to move into the Northeast, dumping about 30 centimetres of snow from Washington through New York and Boston, the weather service predicted.
Governors in more than a dozen states sounded the alarm about the turbulent weather ahead, declaring emergencies or urging people to stay home.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told residents on the social media platform X that the state Department of Transportation was pretreating the roads and told residents, "Stay home if possible.”
More than 3,400 flights were delayed or cancelled Saturday, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware. More than 5,000 were called off for Sunday.
Frigid temperatures and ice utility companies braced for power outages because ice-coated trees and power lines can keep falling long after a storm has passed.
The federal government meanwhile put nearly 30 search and rescue teams on standby. Officials had more than 7 million meals, 600,000 blankets and 300 generators placed throughout the area the storm was expected to cross, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
US President Donald Trump said via social media on Friday that his administration was coordinating with state and local officials and "FEMA is fully prepared to respond.”
