Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: To many North Indians, especially Delhites, “smog” is routine at the onset of winter each year, when palls of smoke from stubble burning in agricultural fields of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh, combine with vehicular and industrial pollution and fog, that creates apocalyptic scenes, despite the government’s routine assurances.
But New York, the Big Apple, experienced something like this on Wednesday after some six decades. For the first time since the early 1960s, heavy smoke arose in Canada because of widespread wildfires and spread down south to shroud New York, America’s business capital, into a yellowish-red colored haze, affecting millions of people.
More than 100 million people across America’s northeast, and extending west to Chicago and south to Atlanta, were under pollution warnings after the smoke drifted hundreds of miles from Canada, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said.
In Canada, more than 11,000 local citizens were evacuated from Quebec Province, now the epicenter of the disaster, with thousands of others likely to flee in the next couple of days if the crisis persists.
New York City Health Commissioner Aswin Vasan said the metropolis was experiencing its worse air quality since the 1960s, while New York State Governor Kathy Hochul called it an “emergency crisis” that could last several days.
Smoke from Canadian wildfires shrouded New York on Wednesday in a record-breaking apocalyptic smog, as cities along the US East Coast issued air quality alerts and thousands evacuated their homes in Canada, the media reported.
New York Mayor Eric Adams urged residents to stay indoors as the thick haze of pollution cast an eerie, yellowish glow over Manhattan’s famous skyscrapers, delayed flights and forced the postponement of sports and entertainment events.
In Canada itself, the devastating wildfires displaced more than 20,000 people and scorched about 3.8 million hectares of land. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said this is Canada’s worst wildfire season.
Those affected have complained of watery and itchy eyes, stinging throats, awful smells like those of wood-burning fires, and other ailments.
IQAir.com, which tracks air quality around the world, said New York—well-known for its clear blue skies—was enduring the worst air quality index (AQI) of any major city in the world. New York is normally outside the top 3,000 worst cities for pollution worldwide.
AirNow, another monitor, said the Big Apple’s AQI reached a hazardous level of 413 at 5:00 pm (2100 GMT), just short of the scale’s maximum of 500. New York had broken its previous AQI high, set 21 years ago.
All outdoor activities at New York City’s public schools were suspended, with Mayor Eric Adams urging city dwellers to restrict outdoor time to “the absolute necessities.”
The smog enveloped the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline, with the Federal Aviation Administration saying it had slowed traffic to and from the city’s airports because of reduced visibility.
As millions complained of breathing difficulties, several games and sports events had to be canceled or postponed and so were entertainment programs because of poor air quality in the world’s most famous metropolis.
In Washington, authorities warned that the air quality was “unhealthy for people with heart or lung disease, older adults, children, and teens” and canceled all outdoor activities in public schools, including sports lessons.
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said the situation was an “alarming example of the ways in which the climate crisis is disturbing our lives.”
Scientists say warming temperatures increase the risk of the hot, dry weather that often fans wildfires.
US President Joe Biden said on Twitter that more than 600 US firefighters and other personnel, along with equipment, had been deployed to Canada to help battle the blazes.