Monster winter storm grips US, nearly 15,000 flights cancelled

A massive winter storm tore across large parts of the United States on Sunday, triggering widespread flight cancellations, knocking out power supplies and turning roads treacherous with ice as forecasters warned of days of lingering disruption.

Air travel was among the hardest hit. Over 14,800 flights scheduled for Saturday and Sunday were cancelled nationwide, according to FlightAware. Aviation analytics firm Cirium said Sunday's cancellations were already on track to be the highest recorded on a single day since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Operations were completely suspended at Will Rogers International Airport in Oklahoma City on Saturday, with all Sunday morning departures also called off as authorities aimed for a partial restart later in the day, news agency Associated Press reported.

At Dallas–Fort Worth International Airport, one of the country's busiest hubs, over 700 outbound flights were cancelled on Saturday, with nearly as many incoming services grounded. Major disruptions were also reported at airports in Chicago, Atlanta, Nashville and Charlotte, North Carolina.

The storm system, stretching from the southern Rocky Mountains to New England, threatened nearly 180 million people, according to the National Weather Service. Heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain blanketed large swathes of the country, with meteorologists warning that recovery would be slow.

"The snow and the ice will be very, very slow to melt and won’t be going away anytime soon, and that's going to hinder any recovery efforts," Allison Santorelli of the National Weather Service to the Associated Press, adding that a prolonged spell of bitter cold lay ahead.

President Donald Trump approved emergency declarations for at least a dozen states by Saturday, including Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, Maryland, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Indiana and West Virginia, with more expected to follow. In a post on Truth Social, he said federal agencies were working closely with state authorities and urged people to stay safe and warm.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the Federal Emergency Management Agency had pre-positioned supplies, personnel and search-and-rescue teams across multiple states as the storm intensified.

Power outages mounted as freezing rain coated trees and power lines. Around 140,000 customers were without electricity along the storm’s path by Saturday evening, including more than 58,000 in Louisiana and about 50,000 in Texas, according to poweroutage.us.

In Shelby County, Texas, near the Louisiana border, ice-laden pine branches snapped and brought down lines, cutting power to roughly a third of the county’s 16,000 electric customers.

Forecasters warned that damage in ice-hit regions could rival the impact of a hurricane. Southern states began repair work on downed lines, even as eastern states issued last-minute alerts urging residents to stay off the roads.

In New Jersey, Governor Mikie Sherrill announced restrictions on commercial vehicle movement and imposed a 35 mph speed limit on highways. “We are expecting a storm the likes of which we haven’t seen in years,” she said, calling it “a good weekend to stay indoors.”

Georgia officials warned of what could be the state’s most severe ice storm in over a decade. Residents in northern parts of the state were advised to clear roads by sundown Saturday and be prepared to shelter in place for at least 48 hours.

“Ice is a whole different ballgame than snow,” said senior state meteorologist Will Lanxton. “You can’t drive on it. It’s much more likely to bring down power lines and trees.”

The Georgia Department of Transportation began treating highways with brine after midnight, deploying 1,800 workers on 12-hour shifts, Commissioner Russell McMurry said. Governor Brian Kemp, who had earlier placed 500 National Guard members on standby, announced the deployment of 120 troops to northeast Georgia to bolster response efforts in the worst-affected areas.