The winter storm is mercilessly hitting America's infrastructure.
According to the site poweroutage, more than a million households are without power, a figure that rose steadily on Sunday.
The worst-affected states in the afternoon local time were Tennessee, Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana, but the belt of downed power lines goes all the way to Virginia's Atlantic coast.
In Tennessee, where over 330,000 households are without power, power companies fear that the problems could persist for several days as upcoming colder weather causes even more lines to freeze, writes The Tennessean.
The thousands of canceled flights, both international and domestic, mean the number of canceled departures is now the highest since the government shutdown last year, Bloomberg reports.
Canceled flights
Around 14,000 flights have been canceled and over 8,000 more have been delayed over the weekend. Airports in the northeastern US are hard hit, with New York's LaGuardia Airport website showing that all departures until at least midnight local time in Sweden are canceled.
Canada is also affected, and Toronto's airport is reporting many canceled flights.
In New York, five people have been found dead outdoors; the deaths are believed to have been caused by the cold, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said, according to The New York Times.
In Louisiana, two people have died from the cold, according to the state's health department.
30 centimeters of snow
Federal emergency services have also called in personnel in several states, while there are reports of empty shelves in grocery stores as residents hoard groceries.
Work is underway to clear downed power lines in some southern states. Overall, the storm is expected to affect 32 states and about half of the US population, according to the US National Weather Service.
The storm hit densely populated areas on the East Coast on Sunday afternoon, local time in Sweden. The forecast for New York is about 30 centimeters of snow.
"It's a very dangerous combination of snow and extremely low temperatures," said New York Governor Kathy Hochul.
In an effort to prepare the city for what lies ahead, thousands of garbage trucks have been temporarily equipped with plows to assist with snow removal, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced.
In New Jersey, Governor Mikie Sherrill has issued some restrictions on road traffic and a speed limit of 56 kilometers per hour on highways.
