Nine people have died in the US as the country battles a winter storm that has dropped temperatures as low as -45 degrees Celsius.
More than 200 million people – about 60 percent of the US population – are under some form of weather warning or advisory, and the brutal cold is expected to continue through the Christmas weekend.
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A person wrapped in a blanket crosses a snow-covered street in St. Louis in the middle of a bomb cyclone. Image: AP
Nine weather-related deaths so far:
• Two deaths in traffic accidents in Kentucky
• A homeless man died in the city of Louisville
• Three Oklahoma crashes kill three people – two of the crashes occurred while the wind was blowing snow, while details of the third crash were not yet available
• A Missouri car driver died after he lost control on an icy road, went down an embankment, over a cement wall and landed upside down in a creek
• One person was killed in Wisconsin after a pickup truck rear-ended another vehicle before leaving the road and hitting a tractor-trailer parked on the hard shoulder
• A man was found dead Friday morning in Memphis and, while details are not available, authorities said the death appears to be the result of the weather
The Kansas Highway Patrol also said three people were killed in separate vehicle crashes Wednesday as the storm began and drivers lost control of their vehicles on icy roads.
Temperatures across the mainland states dropped: -45.6C (-50F) in Montana and Des Moines, Iowa felt like -38C (-37F), allowing for frostbite in less than five minutes, according to the National Weather Service.
Heavy snow and blizzard conditions continue around parts of the Great Lakes region – covering Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario – with as much as 4 feet of snow expected on the eastern side of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie.
Gusty winds tore down trees and downed power lines, leaving at least 1.4 million homes and businesses without power Friday morning.
More details:
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According to the website poveroutage.us, Maine, Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina are the hardest hit, followed by Tennessee, New York, Maryland and Connecticut.
More than 5,000 flights into, within and out of the US were canceled Friday, and there is a rush to open enough emergency shelters for those who are homeless or without power at home.
Urgent efforts are also being made to get firewood to some remote Indian tribes, such as members of the Rosebud Sioux and Oglala Sioux tribes in South Dakota.
Tribal Chairman Frank Star Comes Out described the effort as “one fight so far.”
US President Joe Biden said: “This is not like a snow day when you were a kid – this is serious business.”
Near London, Ontario, Canada. Image: OPP Western Region.
Canada is also experiencing a severe storm, which has caused hundreds of flights to be delayed or canceled and hundreds of thousands of properties without power.
Ontario Provincial Police Sergeant Kerry Schmidt said police received reports of up to 100 vehicles involved in multiple crashes that closed a major highway near London, Ontario.
