Photograph: Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty ImagesTens of millions of Americans hunkered down on Monday or ventured out to help ‍neighbours under bitter cold, blizzards andfreezing rain from a huge winter storm that paralysed the eastern United States. From New York and Massachusetts in the ‍northeast to Texas and North Carolina in the south, roads were frozen with ice and buried under snow. Flights were cancelled, schools were shut and volunteers staffed emergency shelters to ‌provide warmth for the needy and homeless. New York governor Kathy Hochul said she had mobilised National ⁠Guard troops in New York City, Long Island and ⁠the Hudson Valley to assist with the state’s emergency storm response. Calling the storm “historic,” US president Donald Trump on Saturday approved federal emergency disaster declarations for a dozen states, mostly in the mid-south.

Source: The Irish Times January 26, 2026 14:37 UTC