Bomb cyclone: More than 1M without power as winter storm turns lights out at Christmas
Rachel Schilke
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Over 1 million people are without power on Friday as a historic “bomb cyclone” travels across the country.
Winter Storm Elliott has been labeled a “bomb cyclone,” a powerful winter storm that began hitting the West early in the week and traveling to the Northeast and Midwest, blasting multiple states with heavy snow, damaging winds, freezing rain, and frigid temperatures.
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More than 1.3 million have lost power. North Carolina has been hit the hardest by the storm, with close to 200,000 customers without electricity, per poweroutage.us.
More than 92,000 outages were reported in Virginia and more than 82,000 outages occurred in Texas as of midday on Friday.
At least 15,000 flights have been canceled or delayed to high winds and blizzard conditions. Several airlines offered vouchers to waive travel change fees for customers looking to alter or cancel their visits. Multiple runaways at several airports have been closed, as well.
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Over 200 million people, close to 60% of the U.S. population, are under a weather warning or advisory, per the National Weather Service.
The service has warned that central and eastern parts of the United States will experience “crippling impacts” as temperatures reach as low as negative 40 degrees in some areas, which can cause frostbite within minutes.