North America

Snowstorm hits eastern US, cancelling flights

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A severe winter storm has struck the United States’ Northeast after moving across much of the South, cancelling thousands of flights and closing schools as well as government offices in several states.

A total of 4,858 flights were canceled due to the snow on Thursday. Airports in Dallas, Washington, Philadelphia and the New York metropolitan area were among the hardest hit, according to FlightAware.com.

A Delta flight from Atlanta skidded off the runway while landing at New York’s LaGuardia Airport and crashed into a fence. All of the passengers and the crew amazingly escaped serious injuries as rescue services led them out across the wing.

In Kentucky, over 20 inches of snow left hundreds of drivers stranded in their cars overnight on two major highways.

In addition to the cars, at least 200 tractor trailers were stuck on the roadway, said Kentucky State Police Trooper Jeff Gregory.

“We’ve been stuck since like 10:15 last night, and the snow has piled up so high that when we open the car door, it pushes the snow out of the way,” one of the drivers told The Weather Channel Thursday morning.

Hundreds of school districts, government offices and legislatures in the District of Columbia, New Jersey, South Carolina and Tennessee were closed on Thursday.

In Washington, federal offices and Congress were shut down.

Parts of Massachusetts buried under 12 inches (19 cm) of snow. Parts of Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio recorded as much as 11 inches (28 cm) of snow, and freezing rain glazed Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama, the weather service said.

The storm pummeled West Virginia and northern Virginia, pelting New York City, Long Island and the southern parts of New England.

The snowstorm affected more than 120 million Americans across 30 states.

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