Winter storm creates treacherous holiday travel season

Read the Full Transcript

• Judy Woodruff:

  It is a storm of epic proportions, and one of the most treacherous holiday travel seasons that the United States has seen in decades. So far, there have been seven weather-related deaths. More than 5,000 flights were also canceled across the U.S. today.

  Nicole Ellis has our report.

• Nicole Ellis:

  As winter weather slams much of the United States, the safety of homeless people, an already vulnerable group, is a growing concern.

• Taylor Bailey, Portland Resident:

  When I was biking home yesterday, saw somebody just on like a doorstep in just sweatpants. And I was thinking, like, I hope they get inside, because this is — this is the kind of weather that you would die in. It's absolutely freezing.

• Nicole Ellis:

  In much of the Pacific Northwest, temperatures have plunged to zero or below. That coupled with blistering winds is a life-threatening scenario.

  Some in Portland, Oregon, are sleeping outside.

• Steven Venus, Portland Resident:

  I was out in the cold and freezing my toes off.

• Nicole Ellis:

  Meanwhile, down in Southeast Texas, authorities are doing what they can to help, passing out blankets and filling cups with hot liquid.

  It's just one of many problems spiraling from an intensifying storm that the National Weather Service is now classifying as a bomb cyclone. That's due to the rapid drop in pressure over the last day. Winter weather advisories are affecting most of the Lower 48 states and more than 200 million people.

  Power outages are piling up, creating a precarious situation as temperatures dip. More than 1.4 million homes and businesses across the country were in the dark this morning.

• Paula Poitras, Andover, Massachusetts, Resident:

  We're still without power. Went out about 5:00 this morning. I got up early, around 4:30. I'm said, I'm making my coffee. I think we're going to lose power.

• Nicole Ellis:

  Meanwhile, thousands are still trying to make it to their final destinations before the fast-approaching holiday weekend.

  Drivers are also being warned to take heed. This social media video shows extreme winds and icy roads in Central Iowa, where windchill temperatures are plunging as low as negative-40. In the Northeast, coastal flooding consumed streets in parts of New York and Maine.

• Speaker:

  They're not testing it. These big guys, they just turned around. They're going the other way.

• Nicole Ellis:

  Rescuers in New York went looking for stranded passengers whose cars were submerged. Governor Kathy Hochul today calling the storm an epic hazard.

• Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY):

  It is throwing everything at us but the kitchen sink. We have had ice, flooding, snow, freezing temperatures, and everything that Mother Nature could wallop at us this weekend.

• Nicole Ellis:

  A country blanketed in a historic number of winter weather advisories is leaving many Americans with canceled holiday plans and cold homes.

  For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nicole Ellis.