Blizzard blasts eastern US, Washington snowed under
Monday, 21 December 2009
WASHINGTON, Dec 20 (AFP): A deadly snow storm described as one of the worst in a decade blanketed much of the eastern United States Saturday, grounding flights and bringing traffic to a standstill on the last weekend of the holiday shopping season.
In the bullseye of the historic storm, the cities of Baltimore and Washington-in a snow emergency-were on track to topple December snowfall records, with one to two feet (30 to 61 centimeters) forecast by dawn Sunday.
That would eclipse Washington's 12-inch (30-centimeter) December record set in 1932, and Baltimore's record 14.1 inches (35.8 cm) from December 1960.
President Barack Obama, attending a heated UN summit in Copenhagen where world leaders struggled to hash out a plan to battle global warming, raced home to avoid the worst of the storm that hammered the East Coast two days before the official beginning of winter.
After snow plows cleared the runway at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington for the presidential jet, Obama stepped off Air Force One and into a heavy snowfall shortly after 1:00 am (0600 GMT). In a rare move he was whisked to the White House by motorcade rather than his traditional Marine 1 helicopter due to the treacherous weather.
As flakes poured down in the early morning hours, the White House was whiter than usual, barely visible from just a block away.
But the conditions were as perilous as they were scenic, authorities warned.
Three people died on roads in Virginia on Saturday, according to the state's department of emergency management (VDEM), whose representative Bob Spieldenner said hundreds of accidents "have shut down Virginia interstates for several hours."
Virginia Governor Tim Kaine earlier declared a state of emergency, urging people to stay home, while Maryland's Governor Martin O'Malley followed suit.
In the bullseye of the historic storm, the cities of Baltimore and Washington-in a snow emergency-were on track to topple December snowfall records, with one to two feet (30 to 61 centimeters) forecast by dawn Sunday.
That would eclipse Washington's 12-inch (30-centimeter) December record set in 1932, and Baltimore's record 14.1 inches (35.8 cm) from December 1960.
President Barack Obama, attending a heated UN summit in Copenhagen where world leaders struggled to hash out a plan to battle global warming, raced home to avoid the worst of the storm that hammered the East Coast two days before the official beginning of winter.
After snow plows cleared the runway at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington for the presidential jet, Obama stepped off Air Force One and into a heavy snowfall shortly after 1:00 am (0600 GMT). In a rare move he was whisked to the White House by motorcade rather than his traditional Marine 1 helicopter due to the treacherous weather.
As flakes poured down in the early morning hours, the White House was whiter than usual, barely visible from just a block away.
But the conditions were as perilous as they were scenic, authorities warned.
Three people died on roads in Virginia on Saturday, according to the state's department of emergency management (VDEM), whose representative Bob Spieldenner said hundreds of accidents "have shut down Virginia interstates for several hours."
Virginia Governor Tim Kaine earlier declared a state of emergency, urging people to stay home, while Maryland's Governor Martin O'Malley followed suit.