Dozens dead, half a million without power as winter storm lashes US

WASHINGTON — A massive blizzard has killed more than 40 people across the United States, burying the Northeast in snow and leaving the South gripped by a deep freeze.

Approximately 550,000 people remained without power as of Tuesday morning. Fatalities have been reported in more than a dozen states.

The majority of power outages are concentrated in the South, where freezing rain over the weekend downed trees and power lines. Northern Mississippi and parts of Tennessee were hit particularly hard, and officials warned it could take several days to restore electricity.

Heavy snow exceeding 30cm covered a 2,100km stretch from Arkansas to New England. The storm paralyzed ground transportation, forced airlines to cancel flights, and prompted widespread school closures.

Temperatures in some areas plummeted to -32 degrees Celsius. Forecasters said a new surge of Arctic air will maintain the freezing conditions, and another blizzard could strike the East Coast this weekend.

The death toll includes victims of sledding accidents and a person struck by a snowplow. In Texas, three brothers died after falling through the ice of a frozen pond.

The recent sweep of arctic blasts across the United States has once again exposed the systemic fragility of the nation’s critical infrastructure in the face of extreme weather volatility. Notably, the impact of these storms has transcended the traditional "Snow Belt" states, paralyzing regions across the Deep South, including Mississippi and Tennessee. This geographic expansion of damage highlights a significant readiness gap in utility grids and public services in jurisdictions that rarely contend with prolonged sub-zero conditions.

The loss of power for nearly half a million households for several days represents more than a logistical failure; it is a direct threat to public health. In sub-zero temperatures, the absence of reliable heating poses a lethal risk to vulnerable populations, particularly the elderly and families with young children. This crisis underscores the urgent need for a policy shift toward large-scale capital investment and grid modernization to withstand a rapidly changing climate reality.

The economic ramifications were equally pronounced, as disruptions at major aviation hubs like Dallas-Fort Worth triggered a nationwide ripple effect. A localized weather event effectively created a systemic bottleneck, leading to thousands of cancellations and stalling domestic supply chains. Furthermore, the variance in regional responses—contrasting New York’s institutionalized pivot to remote learning with Mississippi’s struggle to deploy basic emergency warming centers—reveals a stark disparity in operational readiness. These inconsistencies suggest that without a more unified approach to infrastructure resilience, the human and economic costs of climate-driven disasters will continue to escalate.

The recent wave of snowstorms and freezing rain across Texas and the East Coast has taken a heavy toll on the Vietnamese community. In areas with high concentrations of our diaspora, including major hubs like Little Saigon, the extreme weather has brought daily life and commerce to a standstill. Vietnamese-owned small businesses—from the nail salon industry to local phở restaurants and retail shops—were forced to shutter their doors as power outages and treacherous road conditions made operations impossible, leading to significant financial losses. For families, the impact has been equally disruptive, with school closures and the threat of prolonged blackouts upending daily routines across the community.