Storm causes widespread US power outages, thousands of flights cancelled

From Texas to New England, the monster storm brings hazardous conditions, prompting warnings to stay off roads.Published On 25 Jan 2026Nearly a million customers across the United States are without electricity and more than 10,000 flights have been cancelled as a monster winter storm threatens to paralyse a large part of the country with heavy snowfall and freezing rain.The storm is forecast to sweep the eastern two-thirds ⁠of the nation on Sunday and into the week, plummeting temperatures to below freezing and causing “dangerous travel and infrastructure impacts” to linger for several days, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3‘Historic’ storm disrupts US flights, leaves over 100,000 without powerlist 2 of 3Winter storm to impact at least 160 million across southern, eastern USlist 3 of 3More than 100 vehicle pile-up leaves US motorists stranded in snowstormend of listAs ​of 10:47 am EST (15:47 GMT) on Sunday, more than 850,000 customers were without electricity, according to PowerOutage.us, with ‍at least 290,000 in Tennessee and over 100,000 each in Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana. Other states affected included Kentucky, Georgia, Virginia and Alabama.Heavy snow was forecast from the Ohio Valley to the Northeast, while “catastrophic ice accumulation” threatened from the Lower Mississippi Valley to the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast.Icicles form on power lines during a winter storm in Nashville, Tennessee [Kristin Hall/AP]“It is a unique storm in the sense that it is so widespread,” said NWS meteorologist Allison Santorelli, adding that about 213 million people were under some sort of winter weather warning.“It was affecting areas all the way from New Mexico, Texas, all the way into New England, so we are talking like a 2,000-mile [3,220km] spread.”Calling the storm “historic”, US President Donald Trump on Saturday approved federal emergency disaster declarations as nearly 20 states and the District of Columbia declared weather emergencies.