A tornado has killed at least three people in the state of North Carolina, authorities reported Tuesday, as a wave of arctic cold continues across the rest of the United States.
The tornado swept through the south of the state late Monday, mainly affecting two coastal communities in Brunswick County.
“At the moment there are three confirmed fatalities and 10 injuries,” Brunswick County emergency services said in a statement.
“It is estimated that at least 50 homes were affected by the incident and that several power lines were damaged, causing power outages.”
Photos and videos released by the media showed felled trees, flattened houses and destroyed cars.
Sheriff John Ingram told a press conference that “there will be a long recovery process.”
“I’ve never seen this before,” he said, quoted by the US media.
Much of the country remained threatened by a historic cold snap sparked by the icy Arctic air that has led to record low temperatures.
The National Weather Service (NWS) said another winter storm broke out in the Southern Plains area, which includes parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.
The NWS described the conditions as a “vast and unprecedented area of dangerous winter conditions” that will mark record lows, with more than 150 million Americans under some sort of winter weather warning.
These conditions have claimed the lives of at least 10 people and have particularly affected regions unaccustomed to snow and sleet.
Due to heavy snowfall, frost and measures to prevent grid overload, nearly 2.8 million homes in Texas were without power, according to the Poweroutage.us site Monday at 7:30 p.m. GMT.