A “historic” snowstorm paralyzes the northeast of the country

In the heart of the blizzard. In the United States, on Times Square, the mythical crossroads of Manhattan covered with tens of centimeters of snow, the few passers-by have fallen amazed on the famous “naked cowboy”, alias Robert Burck, a street artist who plays the guitar and sings whatever the climate. As usual, he wore only his underpants, his hat and his boots in Times Square, impassive despite the icy drafts beating the giant advertising screens which formed a halo of scarlet light in the storm.

In Brooklyn, in the trendy district of Cobble Hill, the sidewalks are almost deserted, covered with at least 30 cm of snow. Some of the shops are closed. “Happy Snow Day!” (“Happy snowy day!”), says a resident of the neighborhood, all smiles, leaving one of the small brick buildings typical of the neighborhood, with white roofs.

Residents urged to stay at home

The new mayor of New York Eric Adams filmed himself in the Bronx district, then on the mythical and free ferry between Manhattan and Staten Island, urging his fellow citizens to stay at home and warning that “Mother Nature tends to do this what she wants”. The gigantic metro network of the megalopolis of nine million inhabitants operates more or less normally and serves, as with every bad weather, as a refuge for the thousands of homeless people in this city with deep socio-economic inequalities.

North of the New York metropolis, on Long Island, 25 cm have already accumulated. Regional train lines are partially at a standstill there and a woman was found lifeless, possibly frozen to death in her car, Nassau County elected official Bruce Blakeman said on local radio. In the neighboring and upscale county of Westchester, snowplows have been working since dawn to clear the roads and lanes that wind through the middle of middle-class houses enveloped in snow.

More than 115,000 homes without electricity

A state of emergency has been declared for the states of New York and New Jersey and the governor of New York Kathy Hochul asked to limit travel but still fill the cars with gas, water and blankets . The National Weather Service (NWS) forecast wind gusts of 80 to 120 km/h and warned of “near impossible travel conditions” in the northeastern United States.

The NWS also predicts polar temperatures in the night from Saturday to Sunday and power cuts, usual every winter when the power of the wind or the weight of the snow tears the power lines. More than 115,000 homes in Massachusetts were already without power, according to poweroutage.us.

Thousands of flights canceled

On the transport side, some 3,500 flights have been canceled for Saturday, and 700 already for Sunday, arriving or departing from the country, according to the flight tracking site FlightAware. In Boston, the great city of New England, new mayor Michelle Wu warned on television that “the storm was going to be historic and very bad” and Massachusetts residents rushed to stores to buy shovels to plowing the sidewalks, an obligation.

Even in the south, in usually tropical Florida, frost warnings have been issued with the risk of knocking the famous iguanas weighing up to nine kg from their trees. This snowstorm is already the second of the year in eastern North America, after the one that had traveled in early January in regions ranging from the state of Georgia to Quebec.