SRINAGAR: At least 25 people have lost their lives as a powerful winter storm battered vast regions of the United States, dumping heavy snow across the Northeast and leaving widespread damage in the South, where freezing rain caused massive power outages.
The storm’s final phase brought fresh snowfall to the Northeast on Monday, with over a foot of snow reported along a 1,300-mile stretch from Arkansas to New England, as cited by AP. Light to moderate snowfall was forecast to continue across parts of New England through Monday evening.
Severe winter conditions led to extensive travel disruption, flight cancellations and school closures as deep snow and extreme cold gripped affected regions. The National Weather Service said areas north of Pittsburgh recorded up to 20 inches of snowfall, with wind chills dropping to minus 25 degrees Fahrenheit late Monday into Tuesday.
Authorities confirmed several storm-related deaths, including fatalities linked to snowplough accidents in Massachusetts and Ohio, sledding incidents in Arkansas and Texas, and exposure-related cases. In New York City alone, eight people were found dead outdoors during the frigid weekend.
Power outages remained widespread, with more than 700,000 customers still without electricity on Monday. Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas were among the worst-hit states.
The Nashville Electric Service — the most affected utility nationwide, according to poweroutage.us said it would “double its workforce by midday on Monday, with nearly 300 line workers deployed across our service area,” as cited by ABC News.
Mississippi faced major recovery challenges after what officials described as the state’s worst ice storm since 1994. Authorities rushed emergency supplies, including cots, blankets, bottled water and generators, to warming centres in the hardest-hit communities.
At the University of Mississippi, most students remained without power, prompting officials to cancel classes for the entire week. The Oxford campus was still coated in ice, creating dangerous conditions. Oxford Mayor Robyn Tannehill said on social media that the damage was so widespread that “it looks like a tornado went down every street,” with fallen trees, power lines and debris scattered throughout the city.
New York City recorded its heaviest snowfall in years, with 11 inches (28 centimetres) accumulating in Central Park. While major roads were largely cleared by Monday morning, snow-covered sidewalks hampered pedestrian movement, and several subway lines operating on elevated tracks faced delays.
Air travel across the country was heavily impacted, with more than 8,000 flight delays and cancellations reported nationwide on Monday, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware. Conditions were even worse a day earlier, when 45 per cent of US flights were cancelled the highest cancellation rate since the COVID-19 pandemic according to data from aviation analytics firm Cirium.
