beautiful and dramatic images of New York from a drone

The big cities of United States They remained this Tuesday in this particular silence, stifled, caused by the snowfall and only the clicking of trucks working at full speed with their huge metal shovels to clear the streets is heard. Some children dare to go out to play, bury their feet almost to the knee, make dolls or go down with their sleds.

The vast majority stay at home, waiting for the nightmare to dissipate: a few million people on the East Coast of the United States are still stuck the first great winter storm in this country, which began on Sunday, placed various states of emergency, crippled public transport and air traffic and forced the suspension of the coronavirus vaccination campaign in several cities.

The storm, which arrived with wind gusts of nearly 100 kilometers per hour, is one of the strongest in New York City in memory, although it did not hit the record 70 centimeters of snow in 2016 It has also hit hard in cities like Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston and Chicago and left some three inches of snow in some New Jersey cities.

Snowfall has put the entire east coast of the country on high alert, from Georgia to Maine, home to some 70 million people. The cold temperatures caused the death of a 67-year-old woman with Alzheimer’s disease from hypothermia, who left her home in a disoriented Pennsylvania town.

The storm also caused power outages and suspended coronavirus vaccination campaigns in the Washington, Philadelphia, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts areas.

The few cars that dared to exit on the frozen streets posed a great danger: around 1,000 accidents were reported in the affected area, despite the fact that the trucks dumped hundreds of tons of salt on the roads.

New York tries to recover

In New York, the snow continues to fall, but the scene seems to have relaxed. “Of course, this was one of the biggest storms we’ve seen in recent times, but the most intense has already passed,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a press conference Tuesday.

De Blasio pointed out that in Central Park about 44 centimeters fell throughout Monday and that something more would fall on Tuesday, but lifted the state of emergency dictated Monday in the city and stressed that the means of public transport have already returned to function, although with some delays.

In New York City alone, 8,100 tonnes of salt were used to clear snow from the roads.

Although the metro and city buses started to operate with difficulty, De Blasio pointed out that most flights from LaGuardia and John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK) airports are still suspended.

The vaccination campaign will not resume until Wednesday and schools are mowing these days in virtual mode, which they are using again because of the snowfall because the New York students had already returned in person.

De Blasio has also authorized the reopening of restaurants (which can only be used outdoors), but many of its structures installed in the streets so that diners can protect themselves from the cold have been damaged by the storms.

Another blow for the battered gastronomic companies already affected by the pandemic.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy revealed some 5,000 homes were without power in the state and warned conditions were still bad, which he asked citizens for. that they stay at home and that they do not go out into the street if it is not strictly necessary.

“We have to look back to 2010 or 1996 to see a storm of this ferocity,” Murphy said.

Washington, correspondent

CB