By: Jenna Marcus
Snowstorm Jonas consumed the East Coast beginning Saturday, January 23. Meteorologists predicted 14 to 48 inches of snow in multiple areas. As of Saturday evening, over 20 inches of snow had already fallen in areas such as New York City and Philadelphia, and showed no signs of stopping. Eleven states declared states of emergency such as New York, Maryland, Georgia, and New Jersey.
On the first day of the storm 14 had already been declared dead: six in North Carolina, three in Virginia, one in Kentucky, three in New York, and one in Maryland. New York City’s Mayor de Blasio has issued a travel ban across the city for all nonemergency vehicles at around 2:30 pm Saturday in order to allow workers time to clear the roads. Many other areas had called travel bans as well including Newark, NJ declaring that any nonessential vehicles will be towed. Also, over 6680 flights had been cancelled for Saturday and Sunday due to the storm. Multiple areas have lost power.
More than 2200 National Guard personnel were employed in order to help the East Coast with storm response including evacuation, medical calls, and guiding equipment. Emergency responders attended over 300 traffic accidents and had towed over 340 vehicles Saturday alone.
