UNITED STATES: US government offices in the Washington, DC, region closed early on Monday due to the ominous weather, which came as forecasters in the eastern US warned of the possibility of tornadoes, destructive winds, and heavy hailstones.
Swift-moving thunderstorms and strong winds caused tree falls and power disruptions, impacting almost 200,000 households and businesses in nearby Maryland and Virginia, as per PowerOutage.us. Up to 800,000 customers experienced power outages in the southern and mid-Atlantic states.
Despite being soaked by rain and hit with hail, the capital of the country managed to avoid any tornadoes until the National Weather Service tornado watch ended at 9 p.m. EDT (0100 GMT).
A warning about coastal flooding was still in place for Washington until 4 a.m. (0800 GMT).
According to the National Weather Service, there was a tornado risk for approximately 29.5 million people on Monday, from western New York State to Alabama. However, no tornadoes had been reported as of 9 p.m. EDT.
Due to thunderstorms, the Federal Aviation Administration cancelled all outbound flights at airports in New York, Washington, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Baltimore. The FAA mentioned rerouting aircraft around the storms whenever feasible.
In the Washington area, various facilities like libraries, museums, the National Zoo, pools, and both municipal and federal services were shut down early. The US Office of Personnel Management stipulated that federal employees were required to leave by 3 p.m.
Over 2,600 flights within the US were cancelled, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware, including 102 at Washington Reagan National Airport and 35 at Washington Dulles. An additional 7,700 flights across the US were experiencing delays.
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