new York
CNN
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Flight delays continued on Saturday, disrupting travel during the busy holiday season as parts of the country were battered by a deadly winter storm.
From Saturday morning it was up 1,800 flight cancellations in, out of and within the United States, according to flight tracking website FlightAware. Over 3,300 flights were delayed.
Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson and Newark in the New York City area were the US airports hardest hit by delays and cancellations, according to FlightAware’s “Misery Map”.
Saturday’s delays and cancellations follow days of disruption as the storm swept across the country, bringing with it blistering temperatures and whiteout conditions, with reports of an extreme “bomb cyclone” weather pattern near the Great Lakes. Some wind chill alerts expire, with most ending by noon. But more than 100 million people remained under those warnings as of Saturday morning.
As of Friday, there were nearly 6,000 canceled U.S. flights and nearly 12,000 delays, according to FlightAware.
The Greyhound bus service warned Thursday night that trips to the Midwest or upper Northeast could be canceled or suspended. In its warning, the company listed nearly 20 cities as affected and advised passengers to check bustracker.greyhound.com for the latest information on specific routes.
Amtrak said Friday morning that the storm “has caused Amtrak to conduct multiple connections and cancellations from now through Sunday, December 25.” The rail company said affected customers should be able to board trains that depart at similar times or on a different day.
Those who stayed at home are also struggling with the effects of the storms.
On Saturday, over 1.6 million homes and businesses nationwide were without power due to an Arctic blast and winter storm that destroyed power lines. The storm is devastating the Midwest and parts of the East with heavy snowfall, blizzards and flooding along the Northeast Coast, in addition to frigid temperatures. It is expected to last until Sunday.
The weather could also affect Christmas gifts.
The US Postal Service, UPS, FedEx and Amazon all recently said the weather was disrupting operations.
The USPS said it temporarily closed 89 post offices, UPS warned ‘some delivery and pickup services’ can be affected and Amazon has “temporarily closed” some of its locations in the affected areas.. FedEx said there had been “significant disruptions” at two processing centers and packages expected to be delivered on Saturday could be delayed.
— CNN’s Aya Elamroussi, Forrest Brown, Karla Cripps, Haley Brink and Chris Isidore contributed to this report.
