Several flights cancelled due to winter storm impacting the US

A number of flights between Jamaica and destinations in the United States have been cancelled, due to the winter storm impacting that country.

MBJ says 12 flights at the Sangster International Airport have been cancelled for today in addition to one arriving from New York tomorrow.

Meantime, Packal, operator of Norman Manley International Airport says several JetBlue flights from Sunday, January 25 to Tuesday January 27 have been cancelled.

10 flights are affected.

Passengers are urged to contact their airlines for updates on flight schedules prior to going to the airport and for rebooking.

According to US media, the National Weather Service said last night that widespread snow, sleet and freezing rain threatened nearly 180 million people more than half the US population, in a path stretching from the southern Rocky Mountains to New England.

After sweeping through the south, forecasters said the storm was expected to move into the northeast, dumping about 1-2 feet of snow from Washington through New York and Boston.

More than 14,100 flights have been cancelled across the US since Saturday, according to flight-tracking site Flightaware.

Thousands are without power.

It’s also reported by US media that Energy Secretary Chris Wright has issued emergency orders to Texas and Mid-Atlantic grid operators to bypass pollution limits to keep power plants and backup power systems running throughout the winter storm.

It’s an attempt to keep the lights on, as electrical outages mount around the country. However, many of the outages so far have come from ice-laden trees falling on power lines.