Millions hit by huge winter storm in US
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This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Janette Jalil, and in the early hours of Monday, the 6th of January, these are our main stories. A fierce storm is causing disruption to large swathes of the United States. The Kremlin says its troops are battling a renewed offensive by Ukrainian forces in the Russian region of Kursk. The president of Austria has said he'll meet the far-right leader of the Freedom Party after coalition talks between more moderate politicians collapsed. Also in this podcast.
To see something beautiful come out of an area that has had such misery is something that I think is a testimony to the human spirit.
How prisoners in an American high security jail are trying to find redemption through singing. As we record this podcast, much of the US is on high alert as a huge winter storm that could bring the heaviest snowfall and coldest temperatures in over a decade is affecting tens of millions of people. Thousands of flights have been delayed or cancelled. with driving conditions described in some places as dangerous or impossible. Weather alerts have been issued across 30 states, with a state of emergency being declared in Kentucky, Virginia, Kansas, Arkansas and Missouri. The weather has been dominating national and local TV and radio news. Here's what CBS, the BBC's partner station, was broadcasting.
Tonight, a massive winter storm is expected to bring heavy snow, ice and bitter cold to large parts of this country. 50 million people are in the storm's path.
Our correspondent in Washington is Rowan Bridge. You are talking about potentially some of the worst weather parts of the United States have seen in a decade. I think the fact that you've got five states that have declared a state of emergency is And more than half of states were under some sort of weather alert, gives you an idea of what we're talking about here. They were talking about 35 centimetres of snow falling in certain places in some of the worst affected parts of the country, Kansas, Missouri, sort of in the centre of the United States, really. There you have got snow and ice blanketing major roads, combined with strong winds creating blizzard conditions. The National Weather Service is warning that travel in some states is affected to a level where it's almost impossible to get around, which gives you an idea of the sort of sheer scale of what we're talking about in the worst affected areas.
And do we know how long this is likely to last?
I think it depends on where you are. The weather is moving eastwards, if you like. So it started off in Kansas, Missouri, so the central part of the United States, and then it's sort of bearing east, and overnight will hit the east coast of the United States. So that is places like Baltimore, Washington, Philadelphia. The east coast big cities haven't yet seen the full force of it. They are going to get that sort of overnight. But even so, if you look at the scale of the disruption we've already seen... Six and a half thousand flights cancelled or delayed, significant disruption on the rail network. You know, these are significant levels of problems. I mean, the fact that, you know, as far away as Florida, they are talking about the weather being affected gives you an idea of what we're talking about.
And what's being done to help people cope with these extreme weather conditions?
Yeah, I mean, you've seen warnings for people not to go out on the roads. And clearly, you know, a number of states are used to snowy conditions. So they will have snow tires for cars and snow plows have been out trying to clear roads. But the level of snow in some of these places is just at such a level that they can't clear all the roads.
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Speakers
25 identified
Janet Jalil 9 min
Ian Brennan 3 min
Will Ross 2 min
Rowan Bridge 2 min
Ambrasanit Rajan 2 min
Josè Manuel Barroso 2 min
Israel Katz 2 min
Jeff Colton 1 min
Sasha Schlichter 1 min
Miranda 1 min
Podcast Narrator 1 min
Mickey Bristow 1 min
Alfie Habershon 1 min
Sergio Guzman 1 min
Jacob Evans 1 min
Bethany Bell 1 min
Johnny Diamond
Wes Streeting
Oliver Conway
President Zelensky
Alexander Van der Bellen
Choir Member
Martin Bernard
Jonah Fisher
Unknown Speaker
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