Major snowstorm sweeps across eastern US

http://www.timesofearth.com/Worldnews/?NT=0&nid=17262 A major winter storm has pummeled parts of the U.S. Middle Atlantic region, dumping up to 50 centimeters of snow in some parts of the Washington area.

Washington - Severe storms are battering the eastern coast of North America, disrupting air and rail travel, cutting electricity to thousands, and leading to dozens of deaths.
Heavy snow fell on the eastern United States on Saturday, killing at least two people and paralysing much of the area surrounding the nation's capital.

Forecasters were expecting around 60cm of snow and near-blizzard conditions from Virginia to southern New Jersey.

For Washington DC, the forecast would make it the worst storm to hit in 88 years.

The same storm system hit Mexico earlier in the week, killing at least 29 people as heavy rains forced rivers to burst their banks and flood roads.

Parts of the country have received eight times more rain in the past four days than they normally get in a month.

"The storm in Mexico and the storm in the US are actually part and parcel of the same storm." "It started off over Mexico, then headed north over Texas and the southeast of the United States, and is now giving blizzards to the east coast.

Police said the severe weather led to the deaths of a father and son in Virginia on Friday, who were hit by a tractor-trailer while trying to help the driver of another vehicle on a busy highway.

Electricity has been cut to more than 120,000 homes and many offices in Washington DC - as power lines were knocked out by the powerful storm.

With winds gusting at almost 90km an hour, many places were already covered in more than 30cm of snow by early Saturday, including the White House grounds.
All flights out of the area's three main airports, meanwhile, have been cancelled, and the governors of Virginia, Maryland and Delaware have all declared states of emergency.

Bus services in the national capital were shut, as well as around 40 above-ground railway stations.

Residents in the affected areas have taken to referring to the storm online as a "snowpocalypse" or "snowmageddon", including on social networking site Twitter and Flickr- a photo-sharing website.

Officials, from the mayor of DC to the governor of Maryland, were on local TV and radio stations throughout the day on Friday warning people to stay home and off the roads.

Unseasonably cold temperatures were expected in the storm's wake next week in the northeast of the country.
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