At least 30 dead as severe winter storm coats US in snow and ice

Many in the United States faced another frigid night of freezing temperatures, power outages, and transportation issues as a colossal winter storm was blamed for the deaths of some 30 people across a number of states in the country.

The Associated Press news agency reports that the storm has been linked to the deaths, with causes ranging from hypothermia to weather-related traffic, sledging , and snowplough accidents.
The deaths, according to a compilation of state government and local media reports late on Monday, included eight people who were found outdoors in the course of the freezing weekend in New York City.

Two people were reported run over by snowploughs in Massachusetts and Ohio, while sledging accidents killed teenagers in Arkansas and Texas. A woman was also found dead by police after she was last seen leaving a Kansas bar.

Health authorities in the Southern state of Louisiana reported that two people had died from hypothermia, and icy weather brought down power lines in Tennessee.

At least 20 states and the capital Washington, DC were under states of emergency in order to deploy emergency personnel and resources.

More than 12,000 US flights were delayed or cancelled nationwide on Monday, according to flight tracker flightaware.com. About 285 more scheduled flights on Tuesday have already been cancelled, according to the website.

On Sunday, 45 percent of US flights were cancelled, making it the highest day for cancellations since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.