1.5 million without electricity as US battles 'Epic' winter storm

Chicago: A major winter storm that hit the US on Friday caused thousands of flights to be cancelled and left almost a million and a half of its power users without electricity days before Christmas.

Many parts of the country, including the typically temperate southern states, were blanketed with heavy snow, howling winds, and air so icy that boiling water turned to ice in an instant.

According to the National Weather Service, wind chills caused temperatures to drop as low as -55 degrees Fahrenheit (-48 degrees Celsius), placing 240 million Americans, or 70% of the population, under weather warnings.

Jennifer Orlando, who is 39 years old, and her husband took refuge in Hamburg, New York.

“We’re under a driving ban,” she told AFP, adding: “I can’t see across the street. We’re not going anywhere.”

She claimed that after an RV (recreational vehicle) slid into a powerline on the highway, her power was out for four hours.

According to tracker poweroutage.us, 1.5 million electrical consumers, mostly in the south and east of the US, were without power, and they had immediate concerns about the bitter cold.

Transportation officials reported near-zero visibility whiteouts, ice-covered roadways, and blizzard conditions in North and South Dakota, Oklahoma, Iowa, and other states, and firmly advised residents to stay inside.

In Oklahoma, there were at least two reported traffic fatalities. Andy Beshear, Kentucky's governor, confirmed three on Thursday.

“This is an epic, statewide hazard,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul said at a press briefing.

“The roads are going to be like an ice skating rink and your tires cannot handle this.”

According to Rosa Falcon, a teacher and volunteer who spoke with AFP, desperate migrants who had crossed into Texas from Mexico huddled for warmth in churches, schools, and a community centre.

She continued that some still made the decision to stay outside in the -15F (-9C) cold out of concern for immigration authorities.

Burke Patten of Night Ministry, a charity in Chicago that helps the homeless, said: “We’ve been handing out cold weather gear, including coats, hats, gloves, thermal underwear, blankets and sleeping bags, along with hand and foot warmers.”

Last-minute holiday shoppers in downtown Toronto, Canada, had a positive attitude.

According to Caledon, Ontario's Jennifer Campbell, “I think every few years we get some big storms and we just adjust. We are Canadians, that’s the way we do it.”

According to flight tracking website Flight Aware, more than 4,500 US flights have already been cancelled as of Friday, and another 5,900 have been delayed, many at major international airports like New York, Seattle, and Chicago's O'Hare.

North America had harsh weather.

Waves up to 26 feet (8 metres) high have been reported in Lake Erie, according to meteorologist Kelsey McEwen in Toronto. The NWS reported 74 mph (120 km/h) gusts in Ohio's Fairport Harbor.

The storm could quickly intensify into a "bomb cyclone," which occurs when a cold air mass collides with warm air and the barometric pressure lowers, according to AccuWeather analysts.

Rich Maliawco, the lead forecaster for the National Weather Service in Glasgow, Montana, where the wind chill dropped to a bone-chilling -60 Fahrenheit overnight, said the weather was exceedingly dangerous.

“When it’s this cold, anybody can run into trouble,” he told AFP.

“With these kinds of wind chills, if you’re not wearing those warm layers... unprotected skin can get frostbite in less than five minutes.”

People posted videos of themselves performing the "boiling water challenge," in which they hurl boiling water into the air and watch it instantly freeze.

“We created our own cloud @ -17° F (-27° C) at the #Missoula International Airport,” tweeted NWS Missoula in Montana.