Trump Approves Emergency Declarations for 12 States Over Winter Storm

President Donald Trump has approved an emergency disaster declaration for a dozen states because of a strong winter storm that has triggered power outages for more than 1 million customers across the United States as officials have warned of further major impacts across the northeast region.

The declarations were issued for North Carolina, Maryland, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Indiana, West Virginia, South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, and Georgia.

“We are working closely with [the Federal Emergency Management Agency], Governors, and State Emergency Management teams to ensure the safety of everybody. Stay Safe, and Stay Warm,” the president wrote in a post on Truth Social on Saturday.

The ice and snowfall that started on Friday were expected to continue into Monday in much of the country, followed by very low temperatures, which could cause “dangerous travel and infrastructure impacts” to linger for several days, the National Weather Service (NWS) said Sunday.

The NWS, in a separate update on Sunday, warned of moderate to major impacts in much of the northeastern United States, including New York City and New England.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said the state was bracing for the longest cold stretch and highest snow totals it has seen in years. Communities near the Canadian border have already seen record-breaking subzero temperatures, with Watertown, New York, registering minus 34 degrees Fahrenheit and the town of Copenhagen at minus 49 F, she said.

“An Arctic siege has taken over our state,” Hochul said. “It is brutal, it is bone chilling and it is dangerous.”

As of Sunday morning, around 200 million people were under some sort of winter weather warning, according to a map posted by the NWS. Hundreds of thousands of customers were without power, according to PowerOutage.us, with Tennessee and Mississippi hit especially hard.

Meanwhile, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia each saw outages in the tens of thousands, the map shows.

As the storm hits, some parts of the United States such as the Plains states and Mississippi Valley regions will see “record-breaking cold” through Tuesday, the NWS said in a Sunday bulletin. The interior part of the Mid-Atlantic states may also see low temperatures, it added.

“Arctic air will then rush in behind the storm system and bring bitterly cold temperatures for much of the eastern two-thirds of the country for the next couple of days,” it said. “In fact, below freezing temperatures will penetrate south of Brownsville, Texas, Monday morning, along with below zero readings across the Texas Panhandle and into Oklahoma.”

Some 11,500 flights were canceled Sunday and more than 16,000 were delayed, according to the flight tracker FlightAware.com. Airports in Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore, and the states of North Carolina, New York, and New Jersey were hit especially hard.

Trump said on Friday, “I have been briefed on the Record Cold Wave and Historic Winter Storm that will be hitting much of the United States this weekend,” and added that the administration has been “coordinating with State and Local Officials” alongside the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.