by Millions of Americans are under a bout of winter storms as a powerful winter storm moves northeast, leaving behind heavy snow, flash floods and severe thunderstorms.
The National Weather Service issued multiple hurricane warnings Wednesday as the storm moved through northwest Florida and southern Georgia.
It comes the day after a hurricane swept through Texas and caused severe destruction along its course.
There were no reported deaths.
Dayton, Ohio broke a 108-year snowfall record after recording 5 inches (12 cm) of snow on Wednesday, according to the NWS. The previous record of 4.9 inches was broken in 1915.
According to the NWS, snowfall from Texas to Maine is expected to be between 4 and 8 inches, while northern New England and surrounding areas can reach between 8 and 12 inches, possibly causing dangerous travel conditions in the area.
According to PowerOutage.us, more than 120,000 homes and businesses in Arkansas, Missouri and Texas were without power Wednesday evening. Chicago’s Midway International Airport and Chicago O’Hare International Airport were responsible for the majority of flight cancellations in the country.
Rachel Cobb, a meteorologist with the NWS, said Wednesday’s storms are a continuation of low-pressure systems developing off the Texas and Florida coasts and starting to move northward.
“It draws a lot of energy and moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and that’s what started the storms yesterday,” Cobb told the BBC.
“And now, as we follow north and northeast, we meet cold air and see one to two inches of heavy snow falling per hour.”
He said the biggest concerns are power outages from the Midwest to New England as a result of heavy snow and high winds.
Flash flooding and thunderstorms remain possible in parts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Alabama.
Meanwhile, residents of parts of Texas continue to clear the debris from the hurricane that hit Tuesday.
“In my 25 years here, it’s probably the worst damage I’ve ever seen,” Josh Bruegger, a police chief in Pasadena, Texas, told reporters.
In Pasadena, 15 miles (24 km) southeast of Houston, the Pasadena Police Department had its roads blocked by uprooted poles and toppled power lines, and “several commercial trucks were knocked over.”
Having already begun the process of restoring power and clearing the debris, emergency teams are preparing for the next bad weather wave.
“We’ll have our hands full in the coming days,” Bruegger said.
