Blizzard, strong winds slam much of U.S.

NEW YORK, March 15 (Xinhua) -- A rapidly intensifying storm on Sunday swept across large swathes of the United States, unleashing blizzard conditions and fierce winds across the Midwest and Great Lakes regions, and causing thousands of flight cancellations and widespread power outages.

Nearly 200 million people, from the Dakotas to Illinois, were impacted by the severe weather, with over 11 million under blizzard warnings.

Meteorologists predicted that the storm would move eastward by Monday, placing the mid-Atlantic states and Washington, D.C. at the highest risk of experiencing strong winds and tornadoes.

The storm is expected to intensify into a bomb cyclone from Sunday to Monday, characterized by a rapid drop in central pressure within 24 hours or less. This development will pave the way for three major weather threats: strong winds, blizzard conditions, and widespread severe thunderstorms, AccuWeather meteorologists said.

Snow, freezing rain and sleet have caused travel disruptions and dangerous road conditions. Warnings of hazardous road conditions were issued across Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin, where transportation officials warned of worsening conditions Sunday with low visibility and snow-covered roadways.

Airports in Chicago and Minneapolis were hit the hardest, where snow and rain were expected to continue into Monday.

More than 1,600 flights were canceled and over 750 flights delayed at Chicago O'Hare International Airport on Sunday evening, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking platform.

Experts estimated that flight disruptions would worsen through Monday, with flight cancellations already surpassing 3,000 as of Sunday night.

More than 210,000 utility customers in six Great Lakes states were without electricity as of Sunday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.us, which tracks outages nationwide. Some originated on Friday due to powerful gusts.

In Hawaii, rain persisted on Sunday, resulting in flooding of acres of farmland and homes, road closures, and shelter openings. By midday Sunday, nearly 40,000 users in the state were left without power.

Meteorologists cautioned that a band of severe storms carrying destructive winds would sweep across a large portion of the eastern United States by late Monday. The storms were expected to commence Sunday afternoon and traverse the Mississippi, Tennessee and Ohio valleys.