Polar vortex brings deadly cold snap to US states

International Desk: Cities are all but shutting down across the US Midwest as the region shivers in a deadly cold snap known as a polar vortex.

At least seven people have been killed in several states as a result of the arctic weather.

Temperatures fell to -30C (-22F) in Chicago - colder than parts of Antarctica - and -37C in North Dakota.

Freezing weather will chill 250 million Americans, and 90 million will experience -17C (0F) or below.

Snow is expected to fall throughout Wednesday, from the Great Lakes region into New England. As much as 24in (60cm) is forecast in the state of Wisconsin, and 6in in Illinois.

States of emergency have been declared in Midwestern Wisconsin, Michigan and Illinois, and even in the normally warmer Deep South states of Alabama and Mississippi.

"This could possibly be history-making," said Ricky Castro, a National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologist in Illinois.

The NWS is warning frostbite is possible within just 10 minutes of being outside in such extreme temperatures.

Grand Forks, North Dakota, has seen the lowest wind chill so far at -54C on Wednesday morning.

Twenty million people in the continental US are expected to experience temperatures of -28C or lower by the week's end.

On Wednesday, two Michigan residents were found dead in their neighbourhoods, the Associated Press reported.

Officials say one may have become disoriented and wandered into the cold without proper attire.

On Tuesday, a 55-year-old man froze to death in a Milwaukee, Wisconsin, garage, with the medical examiner's office ruling he "apparently collapsed after shoveling snow", local media reported.

In Pekin, Illinois, NBC News reported an 82-year-old man died from hypothermia outside his home.

A 75-year-old man was killed by a snow plough near Chicago on Monday.
The driver of the plough has been placed on paid leave while the incident is investigated, according to WGN9 News.

In northern Indiana, a young couple died after a collision on icy roads.

Source: BBC


risingbd/Jan 31, 2019/Mukul