More than 700,000 with out energy, 25 lifeless and 4,000 flights canceled as America digs out from large snow storm | EUROtoday

Hundreds of hundreds are in danger within the aftermath of the weekend’s large snowstorm with greater than 700,000 houses with out energy throughout the U.S. amid freezing circumstances, in keeping with outage knowledge.

Tens of hundreds extra had been stranded or unable to journey. Over 12,000 flights had been cancelled Sunday, whereas over 5,000 had been canceled Monday, in keeping with knowledge from FlightAware.

The storm’s dying toll has reached a minimum of 25 individuals. Nearly 180 million individuals have been within the path of widespread heavy snow, sleet, and freezing rain in an space spanning the southern Rocky Mountains to New England in latest days, in keeping with the National Weather Service.

Live knowledge from Find Energy, which tracks energy outages, confirmed that Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee had been essentially the most affected by energy outages, whereas Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, West Virginia, and Virginia additionally had greater than 10,000 prospects affected.

Eddie Swords of New Albany, Mississippi, informed CBS News that the fixed cracking limbs and falling timber sounded “like a firecracker popping.”

Swords said his power was out but he had a home generator, “thank goodness.” He and a friend had to chainsaw a path in and out of his neighborhood so they could get fuel, and the pair planned to hunker down together, extending an invitation to other locals.

“I told anybody who wants to come down, ‘I got natural gas that’s good and toasted in there right now,'” Swords said.

Power line companies reported “catastrophic damage” in plenty of states, warning that energy restoration might take “weeks instead of days” for some prospects.

On Sunday night, Mississippi utility firm Oxford Utilities pulled its crews off the highway because of life-threatening circumstances.

“Trees are actively snapping and falling around our linemen while they are in the bucket trucks,” the corporate stated in a press release.

Mississippi’s Department of Transportation has struggled to maintain up, highway employee John Sanford informed CBS News.

“We’re spread thin on equipment here, because there’s so many guys in different directions and we’re out here having to mainly do this where usually we would need a backhoe or bulldozer, something to help move this stuff,” stated Sanford.

“One of the guys that worked with us, he couldn’t make it back this morning. He’s got two trees on his house.”

Sanford stated the most important challenges had been chilly and exhaustion: “You just get physically tired and you know, there’s more and more trees falling, people needing help. The minute you get one cleaned up, another one falls.”

Dallas-Fort Worth International has thus far been the worst-hit airport, with 338 flights canceled on Monday, in keeping with FlightAware, which tracks delays and cancellations.

Boston Logan International additionally had 315 flights canceled by mid-day. Five different airports additionally had over 200 flights canceled: Charlotte/Douglas International, Reagan National, Newark Liberty International, LaGuardia, and John F. Kennedy International.

Those cancellations got here on the heels of just about 4,000 canceled flights on Saturday and greater than 12,000 on Sunday, which means the variety of affected passengers is now properly into the tens of hundreds.

In a terrifying reminder of the dangers, a non-public plane carrying eight individuals crashed whereas making an attempt to take off from Bangor International Airport in Maine on Sunday night time through the large storm. A authorities official briefed on the incident stated the plane was engulfed in flames after the crash, and 7 individuals had been later confirmed lifeless.

Another 18 fatalities from Winter Storm Fern have included 5 individuals who died after being caught outdoors in New York City, a Texas man discovered lifeless in a fuel station car parking zone from obvious hypothermia, and a horror sledding accident in Frisco on Sunday, the place a 16-year-old woman died when her sled hit a curb and collided with a tree, in keeping with Fox 4 News.

Three individuals died in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, the county coroner stated, ranging in age from 60 to 84.

“I remind the public to use caution when shoveling snow … especially individuals with a history of heart disease or other medical concerns,” the coroner said in a statement published by ABC News.

In Arkansas, a 17-year-old boy died after hitting a tree while being pulled by an ATV in the show, according to the Saline County Sheriff’s Office, while Boston ABC affiliate WCVB reported the death of a Massachusetts woman who died after a snowplow backed into her in a parking lot.

Local officials reported an additional three deaths in Tennessee, two in Louisiana, and one in Kansas.

President Donald Trump has so far approved emergency declarations for a dozen states, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem – who oversees the Federal Emergency Management Agency – said supplies, staff and search and rescue teams were being deployed across the country.

“We simply ask that everybody can be sensible – keep residence if doable,” Noem stated.

Wind chills within the Midwest have plunged to -40F, a bone-chilling chilly that would trigger frostbite to set in inside minutes.