Winter storm’s icy blast hits 200 million in US, at least 12 reported dead

Some 200 million Americans are feeling the icy grip of a massive winter storm that has been linked to at least 12 deaths ahead of the holiday weekend.

More than 1.5 million people lost power and thousands of flights were cancelled on Friday.

In South Dakota, some snowed-in Native Americans reportedly burned clothes for warmth after running out of fuel.

In Canada, Ontario and Quebec were bearing the brunt of the storm, with power cuts for hundreds of thousands.

A bomb cyclone, when atmospheric pressure plummets, brought blizzard-like conditions to the Great Lakes on the US-Canada border.

The vast storm spans 2,000 miles (3,200km) from Texas to Maine, and the National Weather Service (NWS) said its Friday map “depicts one of the greatest extents of winter weather warnings and advisories ever”.

Temperatures in Elk Park, Montana, dropped to -50F (-45C).

Heavy snowfall was forecast in areas of Pennsylvania and Michigan. Buffalo, New York, was expecting at least 35in (89cm).

Coastal flooding has been seen in New England, New York and New Jersey.

Cows walk in the snow following a blizzard in Sturgis, South Dakota

In the Pacific Northwest, some residents have been seen ice-skating on frozen streets in Seattle and Portland.

Even the usually milder southern states of Louisiana, Alabama, Florida and Georgia were experiencing hard-freeze warnings.

A number of the storm-related fatalities have involved road traffic accidents, including a 50-car pile-up in Ohio that left at least one person dead.

Travel problems across the country were being exacerbated by a shortage of snowplough operators, with industry officials blaming low pay.

More than 8,000 flights were cancelled on Friday, reported tracking site FlightAware, wreaking yet more travel chaos as travellers battle to make it home for Christmas.

By Friday evening 1.2 million customers had no electricity across the US, according to PowerOutage.us.

Utilities throughout the Tennessee Valley were implementing rolling blackouts to save power.

The cold has matched decades-old temperature records across the US:

• Denver, Colorado, dropped to -24F on Thursday, its lowest point since the 1990s. Craig McBrierty, 34, who is originally from Scotland, but now lives in Denver, told the BBC it is “colder than I have ever experienced”
• Wichita, Kansas, recorded its coldest wind chill (-32F) since 2000
• Nashville, Tennessee, saw its temperatures plunge to below zero for the first time in 26 years
• Casper, Wyoming, set a new record low on Tuesday of -42F

New York, West Virginia, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina and Oklahoma have declared states of emergency, while Wisconsin declared an “energy emergency”.

In South Dakota, Native American tribe members were reportedly burning clothes for warmth after running out of fuel and being trapped by massive snow drifts.

“We’re fighting a losing battle,” Oglala Sioux Tribe President Frank Star Comes Out told the BBC. He said it was unclear how many of the tribe’s 46,000 members were trapped across the 4,200 sq mile region.

Machinery is failing as diesel fuel turns to gel in the freezing cold. Some rescuers are using horses and sleds, or walking.

Anna Halverson, who represents the Pass Creek District on the Pine Ridge Reservation, told the Darsha Dodge Rapid City Journal: “We’re in a really extreme emergency down here.”

Source: BBC