国际英语资讯:Fierce snowstorm disrupts travel, knocks out power in U.S. Northeast_时事

国际英语资讯:Fierce snowstorm disrupts travel, knocks out power in U.S. Northeast

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK, Jan. 4 -- An intense "bomb cyclone" pummeled the U.S. East Coast on Thursday with high winds and heavy snowfalls, leaving thousands of flights cancelled, schools and offices closed, and millions of Americans bracing for power shortages.

Snow plows and salt trucks rumbled down streets and highways as the powerful winter storm that has hammered the South swept across the Northeast, cloaking much of the region in a white haze.

国际英语资讯:Fierce snowstorm disrupts travel, knocks out power in U.S. Northeast1

More than 44,000 Americans were left without electricity, at least 8 million people are under blizzard warnings, and 58 million are in the path of this bitter winter storm, according to a cnn report.

Most of them were in the states of Virginia and North Carolina, where more than 31,000 people had no power.

Nearly 10,000 have lost power in the Boston area, while in New York City, more than 3,500 people are without power.

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said Thursday three people have died in the snow storm. A cold snap gripping a large part of the country had already been blamed for a dozen earlier deaths.

U.S. forecasters called the ongoing winter storm a "bomb cyclone" for its rapid and rare drop in atmospheric pressure. The storm is crawling up the northeastern American Thursday morning with a threat of winds gusting as high as 60 mph and a bone-chilling blast of Arctic air.

Through Thursday, parts of New York could see five to nine inches of snow, Philadelphia three to six inches and Washington one to two inches. In New England, Boston and Providence, Rhode Island, could get eight to 12 inches, while Portland, Maine, could see 10 to 15 inches, the U.S. National Weather Service said.