A massive winter storm has left millions of Americans across the southern and eastern United States without power and has resulted in at least 18 deaths.
According to Fox Business, over 1 million Americans were without power as of Sunday afternoon. The outlet noted that significant power outages were reported in Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Georgia, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Alabama.
FlightAware, a flight-tracking website, confirmed that over 10,900 flights were canceled and roughly 4,500 flights were delayed across the country as of Sunday night. USA Today reported that Sunday’s flight cancelations marked the highest number of flight cancelations since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the Associated Press reported that over 6,400 flights were delayed or canceled on Monday.
READ MORE: Thousands of websites, millions of users impacted by major Amazon outage
The Daily Wire reported that the massive winter storm, which started on Friday, has stretched from Texas to states along the East Coast. Multiple states have declared states of emergencies as snow, ice, and freezing temperatures have impacted millions of Americans.
Pictures shared by the Metro Nashville Police Department show road closures caused by “downed trees,” “slushy roads,” and other hazardous conditions.
On Sunday afternoon, the National Weather Service warned that the storm would be moving toward the Northeast region with total accumulations of up to 2 feet of snow in certain areas.
“Heavy snow will continue to spread across the Northeast this evening and overnight, with rapid accumulations (1–2″/hr) producing totals around 2 feet in parts of the region,” the National Weather Service wrote. “Catastrophic ice impacts linger farther south with prolonged power outages.”
According to The Associated Press, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani confirmed that at least five people were found dead outside as a result of the weather. Meanwhile, two men died from hypothermia in Louisiana, three people were declared dead in Pennsylvania, a female teacher was found dead in Kansas, and three people were declared dead in Tennessee. The outlet also noted that a 17-year-old boy died in a sledding accident in Arkansas, a 16-year-old girl died in a sledding accident in Texas, a man was killed by a snowplow in Ohio, and a woman was killed by a snowplow in Massachusetts.
“The dangers aren’t over even with the precipitation ending,” Brian Hurley, a National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center meteorologist, told USA Today. “A lot of the areas that are still getting the heavy ice, freezing rain, sleet and snow, will stay below freezing through the work week.”
Hurley added, “We worry about people having cold weather exposure with no power.”