A powerful winter storm in the US left more than 250,000 households without power, most of them in the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas and New Mexico, Reuters and DPA reported, BTA reported.
"Tens of thousands of people in the hardest-hit southern states are without power right now, but our teams are working to restore it as quickly as possible," said US Secretary of Homeland Security Christie Noam.
The storm threatens to paralyze the eastern states today and next week with heavy snowfall, sleet and freezing rain, they reported meteorologists.
More than 9,400 flights scheduled for today were canceled, and yesterday the number of canceled flights was over 4,000.
US President Donald Trump called the storms "historic" and approved the declaration of a state of emergency in the states of North and South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Maryland, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Indiana and West Virginia.
"We continue to monitor the situation closely and maintain contact with authorities in all states during the storm. "Stay safe and stay warm," Trump wrote on his social media account, "Truth Social."
The U.S. National Weather Service has warned of an unusually widespread and prolonged winter storm that is expected to cause heavy snow and ice accumulation in the southeastern part of the country, where it could have "devastating or catastrophic consequences in certain locations."