Thousands of US flights cancelled as ‘bomb cyclone’ brings snow and chill factor

Up to 18 inches of snow was expected in eastern New England.

Blizzard warnings and states of emergency were in effect, schools and government offices closed for the day, thousands of flights were cancelled and motorists were warned to be careful as conditions worsened.

Shelters were open as officials worried about power outages leaving people without any heat.

People who take to the roads are in for an “ugly, long commute”, New York governor Andrew Cuomo said.

North Carolina authorities said two people died during the storm when their pick-up vehicle ran off a snow-covered road and overturned into a stream on Wednesday night in Moore County, which was not expected to get any snow.

The North Carolina Highway Patrol responded to 700 collisions and 300 other calls for service during the storm.

Ankle deep snow and wind gusts approaching 50mph covered Maryland’s Ocean City Boardwalk, which was under a blizzard warning on Thursday.

Eastern Massachusetts and most of Rhode Island were bracing for as much as 18 inches of snow, with snow falling at a rate of three inches per hour possible.

The National Weather Service warned of wind gusts hitting near 70mph.

The Eversource electric utility said more than 5,500 homes and businesses were without power at mid-morning on Thursday in Provincetown, Massachusetts, on the outermost tip of Cape Cod, which was being lashed with hurricane-force wind gusts.

Connecticut governor Dannel P Malloy said more than 100 warming centres have been opened in 34 towns across the state.

Connecticut has 634 state plough vehicles and 250 contractors working to clear the roads.

The massive storm began two days ago in the Gulf of Mexico, first hitting the Florida Panhandle.

It has prompted thousands of cancelled flights, shut schools and businesses and sparked fears of coastal flooding and power outages.

Wind gusts strong enough to cause downed trees and power lines were predicted in places where the National Weather Service has issued blizzard warnings.

They include the Delmarva Peninsula, which includes parts of Delaware, Virginia and Maryland; coastal New Jersey; eastern Long Island, New York; and coastal eastern New England.

More than two-thirds of flights in and out of airports in the New York City area and Boston were cancelled.

The airline-tracking site FlightAware reported more than 3,200 cancelled flights within, into, or out of the United States on Thursday morning.

“We think there are going to be scattered records broken for low temperatures,” said Dan Peterson, adding how the weather service expects 28 major cities across New England, eastern New York and the mid-Atlantic states will have record low temperatures by dawn on Sunday.

State and local officials urged residents to prepare for possible power losses and stay home so crews can clear streets and roads of what could be as much as a foot or more of snow in some places.

There were concerns in Boston and elsewhere that if roads are not properly cleared, they could freeze into cement-like icy messes by Friday, given the expected low temperatures.

In other areas, plummeting temperatures have already caused water mains to burst.

The storm has resulted in thousands of cancelled flights at major airports such as Boston’s Logan International Airport and New York’s LaGuardia Airport and disrupted the schedules at regional airports.

Amtrak planned to operate a modified schedule between New York and Boston on Thursday. Northeast Regional Service between Washington, DC, and Newport News/Norfolk, Virginia, was cancelled for Thursday.