US braced for storms threatening heavy snow and freezing rain

The US states of Texas and Oklahoma are braced for heavy snow and ice from a winter storm threatening catastrophic damage, extensive power outages and bitterly cold weather.

A combination of heavy snow, freezing rain and sleet is in store from the Southern Rockies to New England until Monday and could affect more than 170 million people across the nation, the US National Weather Service said.

More than 800 flights within, into, or out of the United States were delayed or cancelled for Friday before the storm, including at airports in Dallas, Atlanta, and Oklahoma, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.

Oklahoma’s Department of Transportation pre-treated roads with salt brine. The state Highway Patrol cancelled days off so more workers can assist and said it was partnering with the National Guard to send teams out to help stranded drivers.

“Travel is going to become more and more treacherous starting late Friday afternoon and lasting through the rest of the weekend,” the National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma, posted online.

Oklahoma City Public Schools officials cancelled all classes and activities on Friday due to predicted deteriorating road conditions. Frigid temperatures closed Houston schools on Friday with an e-learning day for public school students. In Dallas, schools were expected to open, but officials said after-school activities were cancelled on Friday and throughout the weekend.

In the Houston area, a utility company had 3,300 employees ready to work.

“It’s all hands on deck,” Houston mayor John Whitmire posted online. “We’re hoping for the best, but prepared for the worst.”

The massive storm system is expected to bring a crippling ice storm from Texas through parts of the south, potentially more than a foot of snow from Oklahoma to Washington DC, New York and Boston, and then a final punch of bitterly cold air that could drop wind chills to minus 46C in parts of Minnesota and North Dakota.

Forecasters are warning the damage, especially in areas pounded by ice, could rival a hurricane. Many people were under winter storm or cold weather watches or warnings – and in many places both.

Cold air streaming down from Canada caused Chicago Public Schools and Des Moines Public Schools in Iowa to cancel classes on Friday. Wind chills predicted to be as low as minus 37C could cause frostbite within 10 minutes, making it too dangerous to walk to school or wait for the bus.

The cold spell coming afterwards means it will take a while to thaw out, an especially dangerous prospect in places where ice and snow weighs down tree branches and power lines and cuts electricity, perhaps for days. Roads and pavements could remain icy well into next week.

Ice can add hundreds of pounds to power lines and branches and make them more susceptible to snapping, especially in windy weather.

Freezing temperatures are expected all the way to Florida, forecasters said.

A severe cold snap five years ago took down much of the power grid in Texas, leaving millions without power for days and resulting in hundreds of deaths. Governor Greg Abbott said on Thursday that will not happen again, saying the power system “has never been stronger”.

Winter storms can be notoriously tricky to forecast, with forecasters saying the places with the worst weather cannot be pinned down until the event starts.

Governors in Georgia and Mississippi have declared states of emergency.

In Huntsville, Alabama, employees from Jomo’s Power Equipment, Parts & Service sold dozens of generators within about a day and ordered an emergency shipment to meet customer demand.

“I’d say 95% of the calls were generator-related or either service or ‘Do you have any generators in stock,’” Bryan Hill, the store’s manager, said on Thursday.

Lindsay Sylvester in Toney, Alabama, stocked up early in the week on bread and other supplies at her home and sent her son, who is in college, bread, gloves, candles and hand warmers.

Ms Sylvester said she went to the shop early in the week because she knew supplies would be depleted close to the weekend.

“A couple of people I heard talking about they had gone to Walmart and there was no milk, no bread,” she said. “All the necessities were gone.”

As a precaution, North Carolina’s largest public school system prepared for potentially several days out of physical classrooms next week, telling its teachers to create three days of assignments accessible online or through paper copies.

Virginia governor Abigail Spanberger told residents to prepare for days without power or the ability to leave their neighbourhoods. And in a nod to the politics of the time, the newly-inaugurated Democrat said people should not be scared to call the police in an emergency just because of the immigration crackdowns going on in places like Minnesota.

Arkansas Department of Transportation spokesman Dave Parker pleaded for people to be patient and stay at home if possible once the storm hits.

At a busy supermarket near Dallas city centre, Kennedi Mallard and Frank Green loaded two shopping trolleys full of supplies into their car. They said there were some bare shelves inside.

“No water, no eggs, no butter, no ground meat,” Mr Green said.