US Winter Storm Deaths Rise and Power Outages Linger
Three Texan brothers who died on an icy lake in freezing U.S. states were among several dozen deaths on Tuesday, as crews scrambled to repair hundreds of thousands of power outages across the shivering South and forecasters warned winter weather would get worse.
Bitter cold continued after a massive storm that dumped deep snow more than 1,300 miles (2,100 kilometers) from Arkansas to New England and blanketed parts of the South in dangerous ice.
Freezing temperatures were expected to drop again overnight, moving as far south as Tennessee, Arkansas and North Carolina on Tuesday. Parts of northern Florida were expected to drop to 25 F (minus 3.9 C) by late Tuesday into Wednesday.
The U.S. aviation system was returning to normal after a brutal weekend that saw more than 17,000 commercial flights canceled. There were 7,000 cancellations on Monday and nearly 2,800 on Tuesday, according to flight tracking and data company FlightAware. Fewer than 400 were expected to be canceled Wednesday.
Arctic misery in the eastern half of the United States was expected to worsen on Friday and Saturday. The National Weather Service says another winter storm could hit parts of the East Coast this weekend, and more record lows are expected as far south as Florida.
“This may be the coldest temperature seen in some places in several years and the longest cold in several decades,” the agency’s Weather Prediction Center warned Tuesday.
Authorities in states affected by the severe cold reported at least 45 deaths.
Three siblings, ages 6, 8 and 9, died Monday after falling through ice on a private pond near Bonham, Texas, Fannin County Sheriff Cody Shook said Tuesday. The boys’ mother said she ran to the freezing lake and frantically tried to pull her sons out of the water, but the ice continued to break beneath them.
“They were just screaming at me and telling me to help them,” Cheyenne Hangaman told The Associated Press. “And I watched them all struggle, struggle to stay above water. I watched them all struggle.”
More than 448,000 homes and businesses were without power Tuesday evening; More than half were in Tennessee and Mississippi. Some hard-hit areas may take days to reconnect. Electric utility Entergy said some of its 6,000 customers in Grenada, Mississippi, may not receive power until Sunday.
Jean Kirkland used a lighter and paper to ignite her gas stove Tuesday. Her neighborhood in Lexington, Mississippi, lost power Sunday, and Kirkland and her daughter rely on the stove and several gas-powered heaters to stay warm. Outside, icicles clattered from power lines.
“When you get used to certain things, you miss them when they’re gone,” said Kirkland, who lives at night without hot water or light.
Health officials warn against using gas-powered stoves to heat homes. They can emit fumes that increase the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At least one carbon monoxide death has been reported in Louisiana, according to the state Department of Health.
Dozens of Mississippi counties need bottled water, blankets, tarps, fuel and generators, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency is sending trucks loaded with supplies, Gov. Tate Reeves said Tuesday.
More than 110,000 outages remained in Nashville, Tennessee, and neighboring communities on Tuesday. Nashville Electric Service said on social media it sent more than 740 workers to restore power. It was not stated how long this would take.
Nashville officials said about 440 people spent Monday night at community centers used as temporary shelters, while 1,400 people stayed in area homeless shelters. Many residents booked rooms at local hotels.
Lisa Patterson had planned to get out of the freezer at her parents’ home in Nashville. But she and her husband lost their power, trees fell on their driveway, and their wood stove couldn’t withstand the cold. The couple had to be rescued with their dog and taken to a warm shelter.
“I’ve been snowed in there for almost three weeks now and I can’t go up and down my driveway because of the snow. I’m prepared for it. But this was unprecedented,” Patterson said.
In Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear warned that temperatures could get so cold that staying outside for as little as 10 minutes could “cause frostbite or hypothermia.”
In New York City, authorities said 10 people were found dead outdoors in the cold. More deaths were reported in a dozen states. These included two people struck by snowplows in Massachusetts and Ohio, two teenagers killed while sledding in Arkansas and Texas, and a man who had no heat in his Indianapolis-area home.
