Historic snowstorm slams US as 16 states and DC declare emergencies

A massive winter storm is threatening more than 230 million people across half the United States, prompting 16 states and the District of Columbia to declare states of emergency.

The weather system originated in the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains before moving through the South and Midwest. It is expected to strike the East Coast on Saturday.

Governors in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Missouri, Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York issued emergency declarations to mobilize financial resources for disaster response.

Meteorologists are forecasting heavy snow, sleet, and freezing rain. Experts warn that dangerous ice accumulation could paralyze transportation and cause widespread power outages.

The approaching storm has triggered a rush on local grocery stores as residents stock up on essential supplies, leaving many shelves empty.

Travel has already been significantly disrupted, with more than 1,400 domestic flights canceled. Major carriers, including Delta, have advised passengers to reschedule their travel plans.

The recent blizzard paralyzing parts of the United States is more than a meteorological crisis; it is a clinical exposure of two systemic fractures currently defining American governance.

First, the event highlights the deepening politicization of climate science. Donald Trump’s immediate move to use the record cold as a rhetorical weapon against the concept of global warming follows a well-worn populist playbook. This narrative stands in direct opposition to the scientific consensus—reiterated by organizations such as the American Red Cross—which holds that the climate crisis is driving atmospheric instability and increasing the frequency of extreme weather events. By reframing a natural disaster as an ideological battlefield, the discourse shifts away from public safety and disaster mitigation toward a partisan debate over scientific legitimacy, effectively diluting the impact of community preparedness efforts.

Second, the storm has cast a harsh light on the operational stability of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The agency’s abrupt decision to halt the termination of disaster response personnel just as the blizzard intensified has raised urgent questions regarding federal readiness. While FEMA officials have characterized the move as a standard procedural adjustment, it occurred against a backdrop of reports detailing planned cuts to thousands of staff and persistent friction with the White House. This administrative volatility suggests a degree of internal paralysis or high-level mismanagement that threatens to compromise the government’s ability to execute large-scale emergency responses. Together, these factors reveal a federal infrastructure increasingly caught between ideological warfare and institutional erosion.

The storm is dealing a direct blow to several states with large Vietnamese-American populations, including Texas, Georgia, Virginia, and North Carolina. For the community, the immediate economic fallout is significant. Small businesses—the financial backbone for so many households—from the nail salon industry to phở restaurants and grocery markets, face multi-day closures that result in lost wages for both owners and staff. Beyond the immediate loss of income, prolonged power outages threaten fresh inventory at restaurants and markets, while widespread flight cancellations have derailed travel plans and important family visits across the region.