The storm began to develop on Friday and dumped snow over a large area over the weekend. The snow snarled traffic and led to flight cancellations and power outages before it eased on Monday, leaving behind bitter cold that is expected to last.
By Tuesday, cities were mobilizing emergency services and resources to ensure the safety of residents, especially the homeless, even as more than 550,000 homes and businesses across the country remained without power.
Ten of the storm’s victims were in New York City, where temperatures were the lowest in eight years, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said at a news conference Tuesday, when the low reached 8 degrees Fahrenheit.
WHITEOUT : The Grand Rapids Metro Area was slammed by lake-effect snow that caused an extreme whiteout. With little to no visibility, several accidents occurred as a result of the dangerous driving conditions. pic.twitter.com/Uanpo1kMvX
— FOX Weather (@foxweather) January 28, 2026
Although 10 victims were found outside, it was not clear if they were homeless. Mamdani told reporters on Monday that some of the dead “had interactions with our shelter system in the past. It is still too early for a broader diagnosis or cause of death.”
New York City has delayed from this week until early February the annual homeless census required by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“Outreach workers should focus on bringing New Yorkers in, not collecting data,” Mamdani said. “Here’s the bottom line, New York City: Extreme weather is not a personal failure.”
About 500 of the more than 4,000 homeless people estimated to be living on the city’s streets and subways have been housed in shelters since Jan. 19, Mamdani said. Every two hours, field workers checked 350 homeless people who are particularly vulnerable due to basic health conditions.
In Nashville, Tenn., a city of about 680,000 people, where more than 135,000 homes and businesses remain without power, temperatures are expected to drop to 6 degrees Fahrenheit by Wednesday morning with wind chills below freezing.
– Let’s be clear about what it is about. “This is a historic ice storm,” Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell said at a press conference Tuesday.
Nashville officials said about 1,400 homeless people filled all three of the city’s homeless shelters and two overflow shelters, with police and firefighters working overtime and emergency responders checking the streets.
The Nashville Rescue Mission, a homeless charity that feeds, clothes and shelters year-round, usually has about 400 people a night, but during the cold snap that number swelled to about 7,000.
– We are always full, but we don’t turn anyone away – a worker who was not authorized to speak to journalists and did not give his name told Reuters by phone.
– When the weather is bad, people come because of the cold – he said.
(Vijesti.ba / Fena)
