Worst snow storm ever in history has just hit some American states.
Five states declared a state of emergency on Monday as the Northeast braced for a 'crippling and potentially historic' storm that could bury communities from northern New Jersey to southern Maine in up to 3 feet of snow and batter areas with hurricane-strength winds.
New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island governors were taking no chances as winter storm Juno was set to dump snow at the rate of several inches per hour along with bringing winds up 80mph in some regions and creating whiteout conditions that were being described as 'life-threatening', by the National Weather Service.
The storm will affect a 250-mile stretch, including New York City, Philadelphia and Boston, affecting close to 60 million people across seven states. Widespread coastal flooding was expected to affect up to 11million people starting on Monday afternoon.
Authorities issued a sweeping travel ban effective from 11pm Monday, banishing all except emergency vehicles from the streets of New York City and the surrounding counties, with the threat of $300 fines for violators. Public transit was also canceled for the night, with no clear sign of when roads and services would start up again.
Airlines were shutting down operations along the East Coast - with more than 6,000 flights canceled over the next two days, and the three major New York City airports virtually closed.
On Monday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie declared states of emergencies. Governor Christie said: 'This is a different kind of storm than we've had before.'
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio added: 'This will be one of the largest blizzards in the history of New York City. People must be prepared. This is not business as usual... Prepare for something worse than we have seen before.'
He urged people to get off the streets as quickly as possible in the next few hours, adding: 'This is going to hit very hard and very fast.' As of Monday afternoon, a quarter of an inch of snow was coming down every ten minutes, according to weather experts.
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