BBC: Hundreds of thousands of households in the US have no power as a major storm rolls across the country, which is also leading to flight cancellations and road closures.
Snow, ice and freezing rain are creating “life threatening” conditions stretching from Texas to New England that could last for several days, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).
At least two people died of hypothermia in Louisiana, with state health officials linking their deaths to the storm, and another death was reported in Texas.
As of Sunday afternoon, more than 1 million households had lost power, according to poweroutage.us. Meanwhile, more than 10,000 flights were cancelled, FlightAware reported.
Around 180 million Americans – more than half the population – are set to be affected by widespread heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain, which is a dangerous phenomenon where cooled rain droplets freeze instantly on surfaces.
“The snow and the ice will be very, very slow to melt and won’t be going away anytime soon, and that’s going to hinder any recovery efforts,” Allison Santorelli, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, told the BBC’s US media partner CBS News.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said on Sunday that the state was seeing more ice and less snow than was originally predicted.
“That is not good news for Kentucky,” he said.
Weather experts have warned that one of the biggest dangers of the storm is ice, which has the potential to damage trees, down power lines and make roads unsafe.
More than 200 car crashes were reported in the state of Virginia as the storm moved into the state, according to local media.
Louisiana’s Department of Health confirmed on Sunday that the two men who died of hypothermia were in Caddo Parish, a region which contains the city of Shreveport.
The mayor of Austin, Texas, Kirk Watson, posted on social media on Sunday that “we have experienced the first fatality related to this winter storm. This fatality is exposure-related”.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani wrote in a post on X that at least five people in the city had died on Saturday but added their cause of death was yet to be determined. He said, however, “It is a reminder that every year New Yorkers succumb to the cold”.
New York state Governor Kathy Hochul warned residents to stay inside and off roads.
“This is certainly the coldest weather we’ve seen, the coldest winter storm we’ve seen in years,” she said on Sunday.
“A sort of an arctic siege has taken over our state and many other states across the nation.”
Hochul said the “brutal” conditions were expected to bring the longest cold stretch and highest snow falls in years. “It is bone chilling and it is dangerous,” she said.
