Frozen icicles in Louisville, Kentucky [AFP=Yonhap News]

Fatalities are continuing to mount across the United States due to a powerful winter storm and cold snap.

According to U.S. media outlets including USA Today on the 27th (local time), deaths have occurred in 14 states affected by recent heavy snowfall and extreme cold.

The Associated Press reported that the death toll related to the storm has reached at least 35.

The affected regions include the eastern, central, and southern parts of the country, such as New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas.

As heavy snow blanketed most of these areas until the previous day, leading to numerous accidents related to snow removal, extreme cold has followed the storm, resulting in a surge of hypothermia-related deaths across various locations.

In Greenwood County, South Carolina, a 96-year-old woman was found unresponsive outside her home and confirmed to have died from hypothermia. In Mississippi, a 66-year-old man died after his vehicle broke down on the road, unable to withstand the cold.

In Michigan, the body of a 19-year-old college student was found outdoors with no signs of external trauma, leading to the assumption of death due to the cold.

Authorities in Louisiana confirmed that two men died from hypothermia related to the winter storm.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear also announced on X (formerly Twitter) the previous day that a 72-year-old woman in Whitley County had died from hypothermia.

Residents clearing snow-covered vehicles in Louisville, Kentucky [AFP=Yonhap News]

In some areas, accidents have occurred where children and teenagers died after falling from vehicles they were riding on while sledding on the snow.

In Texas, three siblings under the age of 10 drowned after falling through the ice on a pond the previous day, according to the county sheriff.

Major traffic accidents occurred on frozen highways in Dyer County, Tennessee, and Kimball County, Texas, resulting in one fatality and dozens of injuries in each location.

The U.S. Weather Service issued a warning for "extreme, dangerous cold" across the South, Midwest, and East on the morning of the 27th, extending from Texas to Pennsylvania.

Wind chill temperatures in some areas were expected to drop to as low as -29 degrees Celsius. Temperatures in most of the U.S. were forecast to remain below freezing throughout the day.

Even in Florida, known for its warm weather, temperatures in some northern areas were forecast to drop to -3.9 degrees Celsius late at night and into the early morning.

According to PowerOutage.US, a website tracking power outages in the United States, approximately 550,000 households (including commercial facilities) were without electricity as of noon Eastern Time.

In these affected regions, power outages have persisted for several days since last weekend, raising concerns about additional fatalities amid the extreme cold and lack of heating.

U.S. media reports indicate that many homes in the Southern region are not designed to withstand extreme cold, and many residents are unfamiliar with the various dangers associated with such winter weather, leading to difficulties.

"So many people right now don't have heat, don't have power, don't have water," Adrian Ronca-Horn, a Mississippi resident, told AP. "There are a lot of manufactured homes here that aren't insulated properly."

Authorities in New Albany, Mississippi, warned the previous day that restoring all power grids in their jurisdiction could take "at least a week, if not longer, depending on the weather conditions."

New York City, which operates the largest public school system in the U.S., has closed schools, and the University of Mississippi has canceled classes for the entire week due to its campus remaining covered in ice.

Snow removal workers in Washington D.C. on the 26th [AFP=Yonhap News]