Chicago – At least 21 people died in the US Midwest as the region shivers in the grip of its worst cold snap in decades.
According to details, at least 9 people in Chicago only were reported to have died from frostbites and cold-related injuries, raising the death toll from a previous 12.
Officials across multiple states linked numerous deaths to the frigid air, as low as minus 49 Celsius paralyzed the US Midwest.
An Iowa student found dead outside a college building is among the victims of the deadly freeze.
Hospitals have been treating patients reporting frostbite as life across a swathe of the nation grinds to a halt.
Ninety million people – a third of the US – have seen temperatures of -17C (0F) or below.
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The marsh around Logan Airport in Boston, Massachusetts remains frozen where over 2000 flights were cancelled and delayed due to extreme cold conditions caused by the Polar Vortex over the midwest and northern parts of North America.
Homeless and displaced people were particularly at risk, with Chicago and other cities setting up warming shelters.
According to the National Weather Service, it has been more than 20 years since a similar blast of frigid air covered a swath of the US Midwest and Northeast.
The weather service reported that more than 30 record lows were shattered across the Midwest. Cotton, Minnesota, had the lowest national temperature at minus 48 C on Thursday.
By Saturday, highs will be in the 30s and even low 40s F, while the central Plains will be in the low 60s F, nearly 20 to 25 degrees above normal, the weather service said.
Some 250 million Americans overall have experienced the “polar vortex” conditions, but southern states such as Florida have escaped the brutal chill.
