Death toll rises to 28 amid severe winter storm across US

At least 28 weatherrelated deaths were reported as a massive winter storm dumped snow across dozens of US states over the weekend causing widespread power outages flight cancellations and school closuresThe death toll included two people run over by snowplows in Massachusetts and Ohio and fatal sledding accidents in Arkansas and Texas In New York City officials said eight people were found dead outdoors as temperatures plunged at night Xinhua news agency reportedFrom Massachusetts in the northeast to Texas in the south roads were frozen slick with ice and buried under often more than 30 cm of snow In some southern states residents faced winter conditions unseen for decadesNearly 700000 customers from the midAtlantic to the South were without power as of 4 pm Eastern Time on Monday according to poweroutagecom Most of them were in the South with Mississippi Tennessee and Louisiana hit hardest where freezing rain caused tree limbs and power lines to snap inflicting crippling outagesThe storm snarled air traffic with more than 12500 US flights canceled on Sunday the most of any day since the onset of the COVID19 pandemic in 2020 As of Monday afternoon more than 5200 flights traveling into from and within the United States were cancelled and over 6600 were delayed according to flighttracking service FlightAwareGround delays were reported at major US airports due to snow or ice including Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and John F Kennedy International Airport according to the Federal Aviation AdministrationUS Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said he hopes airports will be back to normal by Wednesday In New York City all public schools were closed on Monday and students learned from homeWhile the storm system was expected to drift away from the East Coast into the Atlantic on Monday a blast of Arctic air was rushing in behind it prolonging subfreezing temperatures for several more days the National Weather Service saidConnecticut Governor Ned Lamont announced that he is extending the states severe cold weather protocol to February 5 as the forecast predicted overnight singledigit temperatures over the next 10 days Lamont said this was the longest such protocol in the state in over a decadeThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever