14 DAY TRIAL // As predicted by meteorologists, the winter storm first observed forming only a couple of days ago has taken its toll on the North East Coast of the United States.
Information made available to the general public thus far says that this region will soon find itself buried under as much as three feet (roughly one meter) of snow, and that both road and air traffic have pretty much come to a standstill.
Furthermore, it looks like high officials in New York, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island were left with no choice except declare states of emergency and ask that people do their best to avoid leaving their homes.
“Stay off the city streets, stay out of cars and stay in your homes,” New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told residents while attending a press conference at City Hall.
According to Daily Mail, Deval Patrick, the current governor of Massachusetts, went as far as to ban vehicles from taking to the road.
Thus, whoever refuses to abide by this blizzard-induced rule will find themselves either spending one year in jail, or paying a $500 fine (roughly €373).
For the time being, only the media and emergency response teams are allowed to travel on the roads in Massachusetts.
Apparently, as many as 600,000 people living in this part of the country are now without power, and it may be a while before workers manage to restore the electricity lines.
Courtesy of the powerful winds expected to batter these regions of the United States, roughly 4,500 flights had been canceled even before the storm got the chance to strike.
Seeing how Boston's Logan Airport witnessed wind gusts of up to 76 mph (about 122 kph), canceling these flights proved to be a most inspired idea.
As was to be expected, schools across the region have also been closed, and supermarket shelves have pretty much been cleared out by customers wishing to make sure they have everything they might need in case things take a turn for the worse.
“This storm has the potential to be one of those events that you remember for a lifetime,” argued meteorologist Terry Eliasen.