UK flights cancelled as brutal blizzard batters east coast of America

Blizzard: New York has been blanketed with snow
Getty
Sebastian Mann23 January 2016

Dozens of UK flights have been cancelled because of a huge blizzard battering the east coast of America.

Ten US states have declared a state of emergency as Americans batten down the hatches ahead of high winds, inland flooding, white-out conditions and the possibility of thunder snow.

The dramatic conditions have spelt chaos for travellers with more than 4,000 US flights cancelled.

As of midday on Saturday, at least 47 of them either originated from or departed to Heathrow, a spokeswoman for the airport said.

"The vast majority of passengers were made aware by their airlines of cancellations - Heathrow is running normally as most people have already been told," she said.

The brutal weather system has seen astonishing levels of snow fall, with the US capital Washington braced for up to 2ft (60cm) over the weekend, and left tens of thousands of homes without power.

It has been estimated that up to a billion dollars (£700 million) of damage could be caused by the winter storm.

Additional reporting by PA

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