BY COMFORT OGBONNA
Children across parts of the U.S. Northeast remained home on Monday as a powerful winter storm swept through the region, forcing widespread school closures, grounding thousands of flights and placing government offices and transit systems on emergency schedules. Officials warned residents to prepare for heavy snowfall, fierce winds and hazardous travel conditions that could linger for days.
The storm has already disrupted life along the East Coast corridor stretching from Washington, D.C. to New England. Major airlines canceled thousands of flights as blizzard conditions intensified, and transportation authorities urged motorists to stay off the roads unless absolutely necessary. The United States Postal Service cautioned that severe winter weather could delay the processing, transport and delivery of mail and packages across the affected states.
In New York City, the nation’s largest public school district announced a traditional snow day, shutting all public school buildings with no remote instruction and canceling after-school activities. The move underscored the severity of the storm, which city officials described as potentially historic.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani declared a state of emergency and ordered non-essential vehicles off city streets from Sunday night through noon Monday. He emphasized that snowplows and emergency crews needed clear roads to manage rapidly accumulating snow and worsening visibility. The city is under its first blizzard warning since 2017, with forecasts predicting intense snowfall rates and strong coastal winds. Municipal offices closed for in-person services, and non-essential city employees were directed to work remotely. “I’m urging every New Yorker to please stay home,” the mayor said.
At the state level, Kathy Hochul activated 100 members of the National Guard to assist in Long Island, New York City and the Lower Hudson Valley, areas expected to receive the heaviest snowfall and face the strongest gusts. The storm’s reach extended to Manhattan’s East Side, where the United Nations headquarters complex closed for the day due to dangerous conditions.
Forecasters warned that some parts of the Northeast could see up to two feet of snow, accompanied by wind gusts reaching 70 miles per hour. Such conditions increase the risk of falling trees, downed power lines and widespread outages. The Department of Homeland Security said federal agencies were closely monitoring the storm’s impact.
In a Sunday update, the department noted that despite an ongoing funding lapse, the Federal Emergency Management Agency continues to carry out disaster-response operations without interruption. These efforts include emergency staffing, logistical coordination and critical assistance for communities already dealing with active disasters. The agency stressed that life safety and property protection remain top priorities.
The storm arrives amid heightened scrutiny of FEMA’s operations. Last week, reports indicated that President Donald Trump’s administration had directed FEMA to suspend deployment of hundreds of aid workers to disaster-affected regions while DHS faced a shutdown. Federal officials have not indicated whether the winter storm response would be affected by those earlier directives.
Other Northeastern states implemented their own emergency measures. Maura Healey declared a state of emergency in Massachusetts and instructed non-essential state employees to remain home. Connecticut authorities barred commercial vehicles from limited-access highways beginning Sunday evening, allowing only emergency and essential deliveries to continue. In neighboring New Jersey, Mikie Sherrill declared a statewide emergency effective at noon Sunday and urged residents to take official warnings seriously.
Travel disruptions were among the earliest and most visible impacts of the storm. Flight-tracking service FlightAware reported more than 5,000 flight cancellations scheduled for Monday alone. Aviation analytics firm Cirium noted that more than 25,000 flights had been scheduled to depart from U.S. airports on Monday, with cancellation numbers climbing into Tuesday, particularly at major hubs across the Northeast.
Public transportation systems also ground to a halt. NJ Transit suspended bus, light rail and Access Link services Sunday evening and halted statewide rail operations by nightfall, stating that service would resume only when conditions permit safe travel. In New England, the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority suspended all services, including its RIde paratransit program, from Sunday night through Monday, with plans to reassess operations once the storm subsides.
As snow continued to fall and winds intensified, officials across the Northeast stressed that the most dangerous conditions could occur overnight and into the early morning hours. With emergency crews working around the clock and residents urged to remain indoors, the region braced for continued disruptions, power outages and a slow recovery once the storm passes.
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