AN arctic blast has left death and devastation in its path as at least six lives have been lost to frozen roads and frigid temperatures.
One tragic victim was found frozen to death at a bus stop while desperately seeking shelter from Winter Storm Blair, which is set to bring yet another round of grueling weather to the US soon.
APHeavy snow is seen dumping on the streets in Florence, Kentucky, outside Cincinnati, Ohio[/caption]
APCincinnati was also left covered in a white blanket thanks to winter storm Blair[/caption]
APIcy conditions in Salina, Kansas, three hours west of Kansas City, left a truck wedged between two semis[/caption]
On Monday, Blair swept from the south and Midwest into the mid-Atlantic, dumping feet of snow on cities like Baltimore, Maryland, and Washington, DC.
The severe storm had traveled from areas in Kansas, Missouri, and Texas, which suffered through piercing temperatures of layers of dangerous frost on Sunday.
As of Tuesday morning, 200,000 homes and businesses from Missouri to Virginia were still without power thanks to the most devastating storm of the season, according to PowerOutage.us.
Those left in Blair’s thankless path have been warned to stay off the roads and seek shelter as officials report a growing number of weather-related deaths.
On Sunday, a man died at a bus stop in Houston on a night when the feels-like temperatures dropped as low as 18 degrees, ABC affiliate KTRK reported.
The details about the victim’s background are unknown, but the tragedy sparked fear for homeless populations across the country.
“We gave away over a hundred coats and hundred blankets, so we plan for that ahead of time,” Scott Arthur, a volunteer at the Star of Hope organization, said.
“We also plan for the fact that we don’t have a lot of room in the shelter.”
Meanwhile, in nearby Missouri, a disturbing flurry of traffic deaths has driven up Blair fatalities.
In Jackson County outside Kansas City on Sunday, a 61-year-old man died after he got out of a dump truck and was struck by a truck that was sliding down the icy road, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said.
On Saturday, a 33-year-old man was killed by a parked semi-truck that slid down a hill and struck him as he was crossing a street in Holt County, north of Kansas City, officials said.
And that same day, a semi-truck skidded out of control on a snow-covered road and hit a driver coming the opposite way on US Route 56 in Kansas.
The 28-year-old citizen was killed in the crash, and the truck driver was uninjured, according to Kansas Highway Patrol.
In Wichita, Kansas, two more young people died in a horror crash on Sunday.
KHP said that the 24-year-old man and 26-year-old woman were in a car that slid down into an embankment thanks to the winter storm.
Traffic crashes haven’t been the only tragic deaths since Blair blew over. In Illinois, a child died while tubing on the freshly fallen snow.
The little 10-year-old was slingshotted from the tube while being pulled by an all-terrain vehicle and was launched into a boulder.
He was riding on the tube with another child, who sustained serious injuries from the accident.
Some truck drivers have vowed to put their deliveries on hold and wait out the storm to save lives.
Michael Taylor, a driver from Los Angeles, felt that the conditions in Cincinnati, Ohio, were “too dangerous” for him to continue his journey.
“I didn’t want to kill myself or anyone else,” he told the Associated Press.
Frigid conditions are expected to linger across the Midwest and mid-Atlanta regions struck by Blair.
Another storm is expected to blow through the south on Thursday, moving eastward from southern Texas into areas of Georgia and South Carolina.
The weather will flip from rain and sleet in the southern areas and turn to snow if it continues to move toward the northeast.
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