More than 850,000 customers across the United States were left without electricity and over 10,000 flights were cancelled on Sunday as a massive winter storm swept across large swathes of the country, paralysing transport networks and straining power grids from the South to the Northeast.
The sprawling storm system, bringing heavy snow, freezing rain and dangerously cold temperatures, affected the eastern two-thirds of the nation. Power outages continued to mount throughout the day as ice-laden winds toppled trees and damaged transmission lines. As of 10.47am EST on Sunday, at least 850,000 customers were without power nationwide, according to tracking website PowerOutage.us.
Tennessee was among the hardest-hit states, with nearly 290,000 customers in the dark. Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana each reported more than 100,000 outages, while significant disruptions were also recorded in Kentucky, Georgia, Virginia and Alabama. Utilities warned that restoration efforts could be slow due to treacherous road conditions and the sheer scale of the damage.
Air travel was severely disrupted as the storm snarled operations at major airports. More than 10,200 flights scheduled for Sunday were cancelled across the United States, according to FlightAware, following over 4,000 cancellations on Saturday. Washington DC’s Ronald Reagan National Airport announced that all flights had been cancelled for the day, underscoring the severity of conditions along the East Coast.
Major airlines moved to scale back operations. Delta Air Lines said it planned to operate on a reduced schedule on Sunday, stressing that flights would remain “subject to real-time frozen precipitation and afternoon storm conditions”. The carrier had already adjusted its schedule on Saturday, cancelling additional flights in Atlanta and along the East Coast, including Boston and New York City. Delta also said it was redeploying staff from cold-weather hubs to support de-icing operations and baggage handling at several southern airports unaccustomed to prolonged winter weather.
Forecasters warned that the worst of the storm was still unfolding. The National Weather Service said heavy snow was expected from the Ohio Valley through the Northeast into Monday morning, with accumulations of up to 18 inches forecast in parts of New England. Much of the Southeast and sections of the Mid-Atlantic were expected to see rain and freezing rain, raising the risk of ice-related power failures and dangerous driving conditions.
In the storm’s wake, meteorologists predicted “bitterly cold temperatures and dangerously cold wind chills” stretching from the southern plains to the Northeast. Officials cautioned that the prolonged cold could worsen infrastructure impacts, freeze pipes and complicate recovery efforts, leading to hazardous travel conditions for days.
Calling the storms “historic”, President Donald Trump on Saturday approved federal emergency disaster declarations for a dozen states, including South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, Maryland, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Indiana and West Virginia. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said federal authorities would remain in close contact with state officials and urged residents to take precautions. “Stay Safe, and Stay Warm,” he wrote.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, 17 states and the District of Columbia had declared weather emergencies. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem warned Americans to prepare for extreme cold, urging households to stock up on fuel and food. “It’s going to be very, very cold,” she said at a news conference. “We will get through this together.”
Federal energy officials also took emergency steps to protect power supplies. The Department of Energy issued orders allowing grid operators in Texas and the mid-Atlantic to deploy backup generation and run specified resources beyond normal regulatory limits, aiming to prevent widespread blackouts. Dominion Energy said the storm could rank among the largest winter events ever to affect its Virginia operations, which include the world’s largest concentration of data centres.
