Winter Weather: More than 60 million people under winter weather warnings when rain and snow hit the East Coast

However, about 60 million people were still under winter weather warnings or warnings on Friday morning and about 30 million under a hard frost warning.

Slow warming can be expected in the south, but temperatures will remain much below normal over the weekend, according to the National Weather Service.

A system in the northwest is expected to produce rain and mountain snow. And the NWS warns that a “cold front will cause a winter mix in the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast with heavy rains that could trigger flash flooding in the Southeast.” But next week, temperatures are expected to reach the 60s and 70s.

Winter weather has resulted in the deaths of at least 38 people across the country since February 11.

Power outages for hundreds of thousands

Power is still not back in many Texas homes, where a freezer started on Sunday crippled utility power generation, leaving residents seeking alternative heating from generators, fireplaces, living in running cars, or shelter in powered heating centers or businesses .
According to energy tracker PowerOutage.us, more than 180,000 homes and businesses in Texas were still without power on Friday morning, up from 4.5 million earlier this week.
Why water is a huge problem for Texans right now

Elsewhere in the country, about 400,000 other customers were without power Friday morning, including about 110,000 in Mississippi.

In Texas, power outages have also wreaked havoc on water supplies, in part because frozen water pipes have cracked. In homes themselves, burst pipes have also damaged numerous homes and businesses.

According to Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Executive Director Toby Baker, about 13 million Texans, nearly half of the state’s population, were under cooking advice. More than 700 water supply systems have been affected.

President Joe Biden spoke with Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Thursday and pledged that the federal government will work with state and local authorities to bring relief and meet the critical needs of the families suffering from the weather.

Ehren Williamson told CNN he counts himself among the lucky Texans after his power and water have been restored in the past 24 hours. But now Williamson has to worry about finding food to eat and drinking water as there is still some advice about cooking water.

“We went to multiple HE-Bs and searched for food for about six to eight hours on Tuesday,” he told CNN by phone from Pflugerville, Texas.

Today Williamson waited in line for an hour at an HEB. Once in the shop there was no water to be found.

“We had no warning,” he said. “We got the impression it wasn’t going to be bad. I didn’t even see the rolling blackout warnings. It just got dark.”

Had he been warned, he said he would have stocked up on food, water and a backup generator.

Snow plows clear the roads in Barnegat Township, New Jersey.

Other states also deal with snow and ice

Texas isn’t the only state to feel the rage of winter weather.

In Wayne, Pennsylvania, people are trying to clear the muddy snow before it freezes, causing dangerous conditions, according to CNN subsidiary 3CBS Philly. Wayne got four inches of snow during the storm. And now people are concerned that what remains after shoveling sidewalks and driveways will freeze and make the roads slippery.

In North Carolina, some school districts in the Piedmont Triad area are canceling classes or switching to online instruction on Fridays to keep students safe, according to CNN affiliate WXII 12. A few schools still plan to teach in person, but are intend to start two. or three hours later than usual.
And in Winston-Salem, a number of vehicles in a parking lot were crushed when a tree was uprooted and fell during the ice storm Thursday morning, WXII 12 reported.

“Well, it kind of sounded like someone blew some dynamite the way it came down and just hit it really hard,” resident Hope Woods told WXII 12. “We were brushing our teeth and I was like, ‘Okay, I hear a lots of commotion. “So we look out the window and there’s a giant tree smashed on all the cars.”

Repairs are underway as thousands of customers in Mississippi are still without power after an ice storm.

Yet despite the hardships across the country, there are stories of hope.

A Philadelphia resident offers free rides to essential workers, especially those in healthcare, according to CNN affiliate WPVI. Ian Poush has piloted doctors, nurses, or other medical support personnel who need help getting from their shifts to work or home but are unable to navigate the icy roads.

“Your regular hospital staff that had to be there, your maintenance staff, your guards, they’re essential too. Yes, they don’t treat patients directly, but the doctors and nurses need them there,” Poush told WPVI. And he encourages others to help in their community too.

Workers clear the snow in Huntington, West Virginia.

Warmer temperatures ahead

In parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, more than 25 million people are still under a hard-stop warning. But by the end of the weekend, temperatures will slowly move out of freezing. And next week they are expected to be in the 60s and 70s.

In the Northeast, there are more than 60 million under winter weather warnings, but the vast majority of them will expire by the end of Friday. Ice buildup is expected in parts of North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. And much of the Northeast will see at least one to three inches of snow by the end of the storm system.

The eastern parts of the Carolinas and Georgia are under surveillance of a flash flood and expect to receive about one to five inches of rainfall.

CNN’s Robert Shackelford contributed to this story.

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