USA-Weather: Snowpocalypse now!

WASHINGTON - The blizzard that buried the U.S. capital under nearly 50 cm of snow Saturday paralyzed much of the eastern United States where two people were killed on the roads while thousands of homes were without electricity.

•    The snow storm, dubbed "snowpocalypse" or "snowmageddon" by the people, is raging from Indiana to Pennsylvania. It reached New York and North Carolina and several governors - Virginia, Maryland and Delaware - have declared a state of emergency.
• 
     The National Meteorological Services, the National Weather Service (NWS), which had issued a bulletin warning of "exceptional snowstorm" Friday recorded Saturday at 3:00 pm (2000 GMT) snowfall ranging up to 50
• cm in the capital. In Maryland, 91 cm of snow fell, which is an absolute record.
• 
     According to Paul Kochin, an expert from the NWS, the storm should begin to "fade" from Saturday evening at 7 :00 pm (0100 GMT). It should distance itself from the east coast of the United States in the evening or on Saturday night, according to a statement from the NWS.
• 
     On a road in Virginia, a father and son who stopped Friday to resce a biker in trouble because of bad weather, were struck by a tractor-trailer and died.
• 
     The heavy, sticky snow has damaged power lines, which threw 350,000 people in the dark in Maryland and Virginia, according to figures from relief centers in both states.
• 
     "It's had lasted long enough here," told AFP Ed McDonough, relief of Maryland. "The roads are very difficult and blackouts are the highest. We tell people to stay home and let the teams who
• shovel the roads do their job," he said.
• 
     Pepco, the main company that supplies electricity in the region, told an AFP journalist living in Maryland, and without electricity, it would take two days to restore power.
• 
     "The failures we are experiencing are very scattered and the road condition is not on our side," admitted Andre Francis, a spokesman for Pepco.
   
•   The city of Washington has become a huge field Saturday for winter sports, its inhabitants abandoning their costumes and suits put on skis, snowshoes, or unwind at a battle of giant snowballs.
   
•   At Dupont Circle, in downtown of the capital, several thousand participants are gathered Saturday afternoon for a meeting of group défoulage.
• 
     "There is more snow fell yesterday only in six years I lived here," said Joseph Bratcher Saturday morning, an artist from Indiana (north). "It's interesting, it gives a face to the spectacular city, quiet, no cars.
• 
     Even the presidential convoy of Barack Obama, who file usually at high speed through the streets of the capital, was forced to ride at a walk speed in the snow, said ournalist near the White House.
    
•  Here and there houses or streets blocked by fallen trees.
• 
     All flights scheduled Saturday at Reagan National Airport were cancelled and the most planes in international airports of Dulles and Baltimore-Washington remained on the ground.
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  Ennaharonline/ M. O.