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At least 30 people dead as winter storm pummels large parts of the US

At least 180 million people in 37 states - more than half America's population - are affected, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

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Pedestrians pass the former Cafe Pizzaria and a pile of snow on January 26, 2026 in Bloomington, Indiana
Pedestrians pass the former Cafe Pizzaria and a pile of snow on January 26, 2026 in Bloomington, Indiana. Picture: Getty

By Ella Bennett

The death toll from winter storms which have hit large parts of the US has risen to 30, while hundreds of thousands of power outages were recorded on Monday night.

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Deep snow - more than 30 centimetres extending in a 1,300-mile swath from Arkansas to New England - halted traffic, cancelled flights and triggered wide school closures on Monday.

The rising death toll included two people run over by snowploughs in Massachusetts and Ohio, fatal sledding accidents which killed teenagers in Arkansas and Texas, and a woman whose body was found covered in snow by police with bloodhounds after she was last seen leaving a Kansas bar.

In New York City, officials said eight people were found dead outdoors in the course of the frigid weekend.

Freezing temperatures are expected to persist across much of the eastern United States as a large winter storm continues to move across the country.

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Read more: 500,000 homes without power as winter storm puts 180 million Americans at risk

Community members gather to push a truck out of a snow pile following a major snow storm on January 26, 2026 in Louisville, Kentucky
Community members gather to push a truck out of a snow pile following a major snow storm on January 26, 2026 in Louisville, Kentucky. Picture: Getty

There were still more than 560,000 power outages in the nation Monday evening, according to poweroutage.com.

Most of them were in the South, where weekend blasts of freezing rain caused tree limbs and power lines to snap, inflicting crippling outages on northern Mississippi and parts of Tennessee.

Officials warned that it could take days for power to be restored.

The US had more than 12,000 flight delays or cancellations nationwide Monday, according to flight tracker flightaware.com.

On Sunday, 45% of US flights got cancelled, making it the highest day for cancellations since the Covid pandemic, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.

People sled outside the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 26, 2026, following a significant snow storm
People sled outside the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 26, 2026, following a significant snow storm. Picture: Getty

The National Weather Service said that "potential is increasing for another significant winter storm to impact the eastern United States this coming weekend".

In a post on X, the US weather service added that at this stage it is "too early to know the details".

It's not yet clear if this predicted storm will bring the same levels of snowfall as has been seen in the past few days.