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Tens of millions of Americans hunkered down on Monday or ventured out to help neighbors under bitter cold, blizzards of snow and lashings of freezing rain from a huge winter storm that paralyzed the eastern United States.
From New York and Massachusetts in the northeast to Texas and North Carolina in the south, roads were frozen slick with ice and buried under often more than a foot of snow, Reuters reported.
In some southern states, residents faced winter conditions unseen in those areas for decades, with inch-thick ice coating branches, bringing down trees and power lines.
Flights were canceled, schools were shut and volunteers staffed emergency shelters to provide warmth for the needy and homeless.
“I just saw a need for getting people out of the cold,” said Ryan DuVal, who owns a vintage firetruck and was driving it through the frozen streets of Tulsa, Oklahoma, looking for people who needed help.
“You know, just cruise the streets, see someone, offer a ride. If they take it, great. If not, I can at least warm them up in the truck and just get them a water, meal, something. And it’s just giving back to the community like everybody should do.“
Severe storms grip US as snow, ice and deep freeze spread
Good morning and welcome to the US weather blog. I’m Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest news lines over the next few hours.
The US is enduring another bout of severe winter weather, as a succession of powerful weather systems brings heavy snow, freezing rain and extreme cold temperatures to much of the country.
Twenty-six states, from Texas to Massachusetts, were under storm warnings issued by the National Weather Service over the weekend, with many alerts remaining in place this week.
Heavy snow began falling in parts of north Texas and Oklahoma on Friday evening before pushing eastwards. By Sunday, swathes of the central and eastern US were experiencing either heavy snow or freezing rain, causing widespread travel disruption.
In parts of Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky, about 2.5cm (1in) of ice coated cars, roads, trees and downed power lines. Snow and freezing rain continued to track north-east into cities including New York and Philadelphia, where some areas recorded 30-50cm of snowfall.
Power outages are expected to last several days in some regions, with more than 800,00 households without electricity as of Sunday night. At least seven deaths have been linked to the extreme conditions. Widespread intense cold is now spreading southwards, with lows of -20C in parts of Texas.
Forecasters have also warned of an unusual hazard associated with the deep freeze: “exploding” trees. Rapid freezing causes water and tree sap to expand inside tree trunks, sometimes producing loud cracking or explosive sounds as wood and bark split under pressure.
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