Several flights to Jamaica cancelled due to winter storm

Several flights which were scheduled to arrive in Jamaica yesterday were cancelled due to a winter storm that has been affecting parts of Canada and the United States.

Four flights scheduled for Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay St James were cancelled while more than 30 others were delayed.

The Ministry of Tourism says it continues to monitor the cancellation of flights.

Senior Strategist in the Tourism Ministry, Delano Seiveright says the ministry is aware that several persons have missed their flights from cities in the US and Canada but those persons will be rebooked. 

Deaths

At least 19 deaths have been recorded in the US as a result of the massive winter storm.

Nearly 250 million Americans and Canadians are feeling the icy grip of the storm.

More than 1.5 million people lost power and thousands of flights have been cancelled since Thursday.

The vast storm extends more than 2,000 miles from Texas to Quebec.

Near white-out conditions have been reported in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and Buffalo, New York, where the US National Weather Service (NWS) reported "zero mile" visibility.

In Canada, Ontario and Quebec were bearing the brunt of the Arctic blast, with power cut to hundreds of thousands.

Much of the rest of the country, from British Columbia to Newfoundland, was under extreme cold and winter storm warnings.

Temperatures in Elk Park, in the US state of Montana, dropped to -50F (-45C), while the town of Hell, Michigan, has frozen over.