Some 1,400 US flights cancelled after winter storm in Northeast

About 1,400 US flights were cancelled early on Sunday after the northeastern part of the country was walloped by a fierce winter storm a day earlier, with much quieter weather expected on Sunday.

Several US states had declared emergencies in response to the storm, which formed in the Atlantic Ocean off the Carolinas and was forecast to continue depositing snow into Sunday morning as it moved north to Maine.

The total number of flight cancellations within, into, or out of the US was about 1,400 as of 10.30am ET (1530 GMT), according to flight-tracking website FlightAware.com. Another 647 US-related flights were delayed, the data showed.

The LaGuardia Airport and the John F Kennedy International Airport in New York City and the Boston Logan International Airport each had over 200 flight cancellations as of early Sunday.

The fierce winter storm on Saturday dropped more 60cm of snow on some areas while packing high winds, prompting thousands of flight cancellations and leading governors in Rhode Island and other states to curtail access to the roads.

New York’s Long Island town of Islip was the hardest hit statewide, Governor Kathy Hochul told WCBS-TV on Sunday. “We’re going to give them the golden snowball award for this week, this storm. They were at 24.7 inches,” Hochul said.

Much quieter weather was expected across the US East Coast on Sunday, the National Weather Service said.

In neighbouring Canada, the worst of the cold weather was over in Atlantic Canada, but many communities were dealing with residual blowing snow, rain, strong winds and storm surge on Sunday, according to the Weather Network channel.

The conditions on the Massachusetts island of Nantucket were improving after the powerful nor’easter flooded roads and caused a large power outage on Saturday, the local police department said. The water was deep enough for two high school students to row a canoe along a flooded street, according to a photo posted on social media.

In Massachusetts, about 53,000 out of 2.6 million customers were without electricity as of early Sunday, according to the PowerOutage.us website.

The weather may have contributed to the death of an elderly woman who was found on Saturday in a hotel parking lot in Uniondale, New York, with her car window open, according to an officer at the Nassau County Police Department in Long Island.