A major winter storm has left more than 700,000 customers without power and resulted in the cancellation of more than 15,000 flights, as heavy snow, sleet, freezing rain and frigid temperatures hit a massive swath of the U.S. this weekend.
Roughly 245 million people across 40 states — stretching all the way from New Mexico and Texas to parts of New England and the South — are expected to be affected by what could potentially be a historic storm.
At least 24 states have issued emergency disaster declarations ahead of the winter storm: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. Washington, D.C., has also declared a state of emergency.
Impacts from the snow and ice are expected to cause power outages, widespread travel shutdowns and school closures. “In the wake of the storm, communities from the southern Plains to the Northeast will contend with bitterly cold temperatures that will hamper cleanup efforts, prolonging infrastructure impacts and hazardous travel into at least early next week,” the National Weather Service said.
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