Storm Leaves 1.4M Without Power; 23 Dead

More than a million people shivered in ice-bound homes across the country tonight, waiting for utility crews to restring power lines brought down by a storm that killed 23 as it moved from the Southern Plains to the East Coast. But with temperatures plunging, utility officials warned that it could be mid-February before electricity is restored to some of the hardest-hit places of Kentucky, Arkansas, and Ohio.

In Kentucky, National Guard soldiers were dispatched to remove downed tree limbs and power lines. Oklahoma, already struggling to restore power there, planned to send crews to help in Arkansas later in the week. The number of homes and businesses without power totaled around 1.4 million this evening, in a swath of states from Oklahoma to West Virginia.
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