New York City witnessed wet snowfall of several inches accompanied by gusts of winds that brought down many branches of trees. These blocked the roads making travel a nightmare. The police advised people not to venture outdoors. If going out is inevitable, they should avoid the roads. This was the first snowfall of the season and it left seven dead. Driving was tricky and schools remained closed on Thursday. Buses were overcrowded and officials advised commuters to travel by alternate modes of transport like trains or ferries.

Daily Mail UK reports about an accident that added to the traffic problems.

A mayoral spokesman advised that “the early storm meant that Metropolitan Transportation Authority didn't have snow chains on its buses.” As a result, many of them had to pull over which led to congestion.

The accidents and loss of lives in various states

In Mississippi, a tour bus overturned and killed two people while injuring another 44.

Three of the injured are listed in serious condition. The incident happened some distance from Memphis, Tennessee. The bus driver apparently lost control of the vehicle that led to the tragedy. There were three other deaths due to crashes on icy roads in different places because driving on slippery roads is a risky affair and can invite accidents that could end up in loss of lives.

Those who drive in such conditions need to be extra cautious.

The snowstorm gave rise to flight delays of up to an hour at JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark airports. The number of flight cancellations and delays made air travel difficult. This is another aspect that air travelers have to bear with. Air travel is fast but when the weather is bad, there will be flight cancellations and delays which are unavoidable.

Power outages add to the problems

According to USA Today, the pre-winter storm resulted in seven deaths, closed schools, apart from traffic congestion and power outages across large portions of the country. Most of the power outages were in Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania and as of early Friday, the number of customers without power was 300,000. The weather service issued winter storm warnings spread over a distance of almost 1,000 miles.

The inclement weather took a toll on NASA’s plans to send supplies to the International Space Station. The unmanned cargo craft is supposed to ferry the load consisting of supplies and research materials for the astronauts in the ISS and it will now lift off the next day.

© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED