At least 5 dead as storm slams US

NEW YORK - At least five people were killed after a major winter storm pounded the US East Coast on Friday, with strong winds, heavy rain and snow disrupting thousands of flights and forcing the closure of federal government offices in Washington.

Coastal flooding alerts were issued from New Jersey to Massachusetts with winter weather advisories, winter storm warnings and high wind warnings in effect from the Northeast to the mid-Atlantic, the National Weather Service said.

Winter Storm Riley dropped more than 30.5 centimeters of snow in the western and northern parts of New York state, as heavy rain lashed coastal areas.

Police in James City County, southern Virginia, confirmed a 44-year-old man was killed when a tree fell on the truck he was traveling in - while in Chesterfield County, south of Richmond, authorities said a 6-year-old boy was killed when a fallen tree struck him as he slept in his home.

Outside Baltimore, an elderly woman, 77, was also killed when she was hit by a large tree branch in Kingsville, Baltimore County Police and Fire Department said in a statement.

Meanwhile, local media said fallen trees also killed an 11-year-old boy in Putnam Valley, New York, and a man in his seventies in Newport, Rhode Island.

More than 3,000 domestic and international flights were canceled on Friday and more than 2,400 others were delayed, according to the website FlightAware.

More than half the flights scheduled to arrive and depart from New York's LaGuardia Airport were canceled, with disruptions at Boston Logan International and New York's two other area airports, Newark and John F. Kennedy International.

Amtrak, the US public railway service, announced that "for safety" all services along the northeast corridor were temporarily suspended.

Trains already en route between the US capital, New York and Boston would continue to their destinations and hold, it said.

New York state Governor Andrew Cuomo warned that Long Island and New York City would see winds of 64 km/h, with gusts as high as 112 km/h possible in eastern Long Island. Wind at that speed has the potential to uproot trees and cause power outages.

In the federal capital Washington and surrounding suburbs, public schools were closed because of the storm, which some dubbed online as "Windmaggedon".

Weather forecasters urged people to avoid driving through floodwaters or heading to the coast to watch the flooding, flagging reports of stranded motorists.

Agence France - presse

(China Daily 03/04/2018 page10)