Severe cold in the Midwest United States led to the cancellation of more than a thousand flights because the airport staff cannot cope with the extremely low temperatures.
The airline United Continental canceled about 80% of the 600 scheduled flights from O’Hare Airport in Chicago from Tuesday to Thursday morning. Southwest Airlines, which is based at another airport in Chicago, has canceled over 700 flights. American Airlines announced the cancellation of 225 flights on Tuesday and 185 on Wednesday.
According to weather forecasters, Chicago and other surrounding cities are faced with a record cold due to the arctic cyclone. The temperatures fell to minus 45 degrees Celsius (taking into account the strong wind).
“Our employees cannot work for long in such conditions”, said the Vice President of the United Continental, Jim DeYoung. According to him, movers and other employees work in shifts of several minutes to avoid frostbite.
Because of the cold weather in the United States, Niagara Falls froze, and the famous Brookfield Zoo in Chicago closed for the fourth time in its nearly century-old history.
