Blizzard weakens, but airports remain crowded, and Americans, without power

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While the blizzard that killed at least 60 people in the United States is losing strength, Americans are now suffering from the consequences of the weather phenomenon. At airports, for example, thousands of passengers are desperately following flight cancellations and postponements, especially on Southwest Airlines, one of the largest in the country.

The problem started just last week, precisely because of the strong winter storm. At the time, several companies had to cancel their flights for security reasons. Now, however, while the country’s airline industry is returning to normal, Southwest continues with a large part of its fleet paralyzed.

Only this Wednesday (28), the company canceled more than 2,500 flights, about 62% of those planned for the day, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking service. Another 2,300 scheduled for Thursday (29) were also cancelled. According to the company, it could still take days for the service to be fully resumed.

“I’m not mad at them,” Aisani Parham told the New York Times Tearsa as she stood in line at Atlanta International Airport. “I’m mad at the way they did it.”

On Friday (23), about 1,300 Southwest flights – about 34% of its scheduled flights for the day – were canceled. At the time, other US airlines also struggled and canceled about 22.5% of their flights.

But as other companies sorted out the mess — 13.3% of non-Southwest flights were canceled on Saturday, 9.7% on Sunday and 5.7% on Monday — the problems at Southwest got worse. The company canceled 39% of its flights on Saturday, 46% on Sunday and 74% on Monday. In total, nearly 11,000 Southwest flights have been canceled since Thursday, according to FlightAware.

That’s why US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said on Wednesday that disruptions to Southwest’s flight schedule were no longer a problem caused by the weather. According to him, the episode shows a “failure in the company’s system”.

“We’re past the point where they could say it’s a climate problem,” Buttigieg said in an interview published by ABC News. “They need to ensure that these stranded passengers get where they need to go and that they receive adequate compensation, not just for the flights themselves, but also for accommodation, transport and meals,” he added.

A day earlier, Southwest chief executive Bob Jordan apologized to customers in a video and confirmed that issues should not be resolved quickly. “We are optimistic to be back on track before next week,” he said.

According to the New York Times, the origin of the problem lies in the company’s aviation model. According to the newspaper, Southwest is the only company in the country to adopt the “point-to-point” system, in which planes tend to fly from one destination to another without returning to one or two main hubs. Thus, the agility of the fleet is impaired if any weather phenomenon forces the cancellation or delay of flights.

Americans look for culprits in deaths

Residents of cities most affected by the blizzard are now trying to find those responsible for the disasters of recent days. According to the Washington Post, the population of the state of New York is questioning the delay of the local government in prohibiting people from leaving their homes in the middle of the storm – a spokesman for the city of Buffalo said that more than half of the deaths occurred from the outside the homes.

Erie County, for example, issued a travel ban just before 9 am on Friday, giving drivers just 41 minutes of warning. At that time, according to the newspaper, several people were already in traffic towards work. At least 28 people died in the county.

On another front, points out the report, local authorities would have minimized the strength of the blizzard and assumed they were already ready for this type of situation. Miscalculation; even more so for a state with an emergency team 10% smaller than last month — a problem caused by low wages and burnout. In rural areas, many first responders are now volunteers.

In addition, the population of Buffalo also complains about the lack of vacancies in shelters. Many of the city’s residents live in substandard buildings, and the power outage has left them without food, heat and running water since Friday.

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