• Widespread power outages amid freezing temperatures: There were more than 450,000 homes and businesses without power in the US Wednesday morning, including nearly 150,000 in New York and about 115,000 in Pennsylvania, according to poweroutage.us. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she was concerned about residents not having power Tuesday night amid freezing temperatures.
• Storm turns deadly: At least four deaths have been reported across Alabama, Georgia and North Carolina as storms walloped the states with fierce winds and rain
• More snow on the way: The snowfall will begin to let up in the Midwest and Great Lakes Wednesday, but the threat remains for parts of the interior Northeast and New England. Blizzard conditions are also expected to continue through Wednesday morning in the Northwest, bringing snow totals to several feet in the higher elevations. “Snow levels will fall to 1000-2000 feet on Wednesday, leading to considerable travel impacts for many mountain passes,” the National Weather Service warned.
• Fierce winds continue: Over 100 million people are under wind alerts from the Mississippi to the Southeast and up the East Coast. “Strong winds with gusts in excess of 55 mph are likely to cause numerous power outages and moderate to major coastal flooding in the Mid-Atlantic and New England,” the weather service said.
• Heavy downpours fuel flood fears: Widespread heavy rainfall will likely lead to significant river and flash flooding from the western Carolinas to the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, with “numerous” flash floods possible from Virginia through southern New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island, the National Weather Service said. Multiple rivers were already at major flood stage along the Eastern US early Wednesday, including in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, according to the weather service. In Maryland, city officials in Annapolis, the state’s capital, were expecting floodwaters to reach a “historic” 5 feet, authorities said Tuesday.
• Rain in major cities: Several major metropolitan areas along the East Coast could see flooding, including New York City and Philadelphia where rainfall of 2 to 4 inches is possible.
• Dangerous driving conditions: Drivers in parts of New England and the interior Northeast could have a difficult time on the roads, with up to a foot of snow and 55 mph wind gusts possible through Wednesday afternoon. In Iowa, a section of Interstate 80 had to be closed down Tuesday afternoon due to whiteout conditions that led to a multi-vehicle crash. In Kansas, around 30 people, including children, got stranded and had to be rescued from vehicles and taken to a high school during blizzard and whiteout conditions Monday.
• Tornado reports and damage left behind: The storm has generated 23 tornado reports across Texas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina since Monday. In South Carolina, “significant damage” from a potential tornado was reported in the city of Bamberg, 60 miles south of Columbia, where the century-old City Hall building collapsed, according to city clerk-treasurer Robin Chavis.
• Flights canceled: More than 1,350 flights were canceled and more than 8,700 flights were delayed on Tuesday, according to data from FlightAware. Some of those are due to the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max 9, but thunderstorms caused significant disruptions in Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Florida and North Carolina airports.
