A powerful snowstorm is sweeping across the US, leaving over 100,000 power customers without electricity, mainly in Texas and Louisiana. More than 140 million people could be affected, and air travel is severely disrupted with thousands of flights canceled. Emergency declarations are in place in 16 states.
A snowstorm of rare intensity has hit southern US, focusing on Texas and neighboring Louisiana. According to the site poweroutage.us, nearly 130,000 customers were without power on Saturday, with over 30 percent of subscribers in Texas affected. SVT Nyheter reports the figure at just over 100,000, but both sources confirm widespread outages in the region. The storm is described as one of the worst in years and is expected to impact over 140 million people in total. Air travel has collapsed: CNBC reports over 13,000 flights canceled over the weekend, while SVT mentions more than 8,000 canceled or delayed. SAS has canceled trips to the US from Copenhagen due to the weather. Governors in 16 states have declared emergencies to manage the crisis. Americans have emptied store shelves in advance, following forecasts of massive snowfall. No deaths are reported in the available sources, but the situation is evolving rapidly.