Much of USA freezes in monster storm

A lone pedestrian makes his way across Colonial Circle as St. John’s Grace Episcopal Church rises above the blowing snow amid blizzard conditions in Buffalo, N.Y Satyrday. Pic/AP

Millions of people hunkered down in a deep freeze overnight and early morning to ride out the frigid storm that has killed at least 18 people across the United States, trapping some residents inside homes and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses.

The scope of the storm has been nearly unprecedented, stretching from the Great Lakes near Canada to the Rio Grande along the border with Mexico. About 60% of the U.S. population faced some sort of winter weather advisory or warning, and temperatures plummeted drastically below normal from east of the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachians, the National Weather Service said.

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More than 2,360 domestic and international flights were canceled Saturday. Forecasters said a bomb cyclone - when atmospheric pressure drops very quickly in a strong storm - had developed near the Great Lakes, stirring up blizzard conditions, including heavy winds and snow. The storm unleashed its full fury on Buffalo, with hurricane-force winds and snow causing whiteout conditions, paralyzing emergency response - New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said almost every fire truck in the city was stranded - and shutting down the airport through Monday, as per officials.

Mark Poloncarz, executive of Erie County, said ambulances were taking more than three hours to make a single hospital trip and the blizzard may be "the worst storm in our community's history." The storm knocked out power from Maine to Seattle, and a major electricity grid operator warned 65 million people across eastern U.S. of possible rolling blackouts.

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