Mississippi shivers under ice, another significant winter storm could hit the eastern US
New York City/ Vicksburg: Several people have died in a winter storm that hit a wide swathe of the US, causing thousands of flights to be cancelled or delayed due to severe conditions.
The storm, which caused chaos from Texas to the tip of Maine over the weekend, snarled roadways, knocked out power, and buried major cities under a thick blanket of snow.
Some areas in the north-east saw more than 20in (50.8cm) of snow during a 24-hour period, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).
Canadian officials also said the storm had seriously disrupted southern Ontario.
In eastern Canada, snow is expected to continue in the Maritimes region on Tuesday, according to BBC Weather.
Despite the storm easing away from the US, lake-effect snow showers are due to persist around the Great Lakes for the rest of the week.
The coming days will remain very cold in central and eastern region of North America, and the situation is expected to intensify ahead of the weekend, when another significant winter storm could hit the eastern US. Residents in a iced-over swath of Mississippi began to confront the ugly truth Monday as they shivered in ever-colder and darkened houses: Recovery from the state’s worst ice storm in more than 30 years could take a week or more.
While the weekend’s winter storm impacted tens of millions of Americans, the most lingering effects are concentrated in a band from far eastern Texas across north Louisiana, Mississippi and into Nashville, Tennessee.
Parents were worrying about the 20,000-plus college students at the University of Mississippi, which cancelled classes and closed campus for the rest of the week. Officials were fretting not only about restoring electricity but keeping fuel flowing to
backup generators. that run water pumps and supply medical facilities and opening darkened gas stations and grocery stores.
On Monday, more than 6,000 flights into, within or out of the US were cancelled, more than 7,000 were delayed, according to tracking website FlightAware.
The severe weather also had a range of on-the-ground impacts, including in a number of southern US states.
More than half a million users were without power in the early hours of Tuesday, according to PowerOutage.com. The worst-affected state is Tennessee, where the city of Nashville has experienced a deep freeze that plunged residents into cold and darkness.
“There are many trees down and power lines blocking the roads,” Joy Flores, vice president of the Nashville Rescue Mission homeless shelter, told the BBC. Her centre was taking calls from residents who had lost power.
The roads were icy and impossible to navigate, Flores said, and her home had “no heating, no internet, and no coffee”.
In Texas, a teenage girl died and another was in critical condition due to a sledding accident, the Frisco Police Department announced.
In North Carolina, a man was found dead on the side of a highway in Buncombe County and authorities are investigating whether his death was weather-related.
Louisiana’s department of health said that two people had died due to hypothermia.
Further north, a total of eight people died in New York City between Friday and Monday morning as temperatures plummeted, according to city officials, .
The city’s Central Park had registered 11.4in of snow as of Monday morning.
Other deaths have been reported in Massachusetts, Kansas, Pennsylvania.
As of Monday evening, at least 20 deaths had been linked to the cold temperatures and heavy snowfall, although in some cases officials said it was too early to determine the exact cause.
In Canada, Ottawa and Quebec saw the heaviest impacts from the storm, leading to transport issues and multiple school closures.
Toronto Pearson Airport received 18in of snowfall on Sunday, a new record for the site, according to the CBC.
Relief may not come soon. According to the NWS, the “potential is increasing” for another winter storm beginning on Friday. Such an event could bring very cold temperatures across the eastern US, and “widespread heavy precipitation”.
The US weather agency cautioned that forecasters did not yet know the potential path of the storm or where it would have the most impact.
