THE TELEGRAPH: At least 17 people have died after a huge storm swept across the American Midwest and New England.
More than a foot of snow has fallen in 12 states as blizzard conditions buried cars under snowdrifts as much as 15 feet deep.
Most of the deaths were due to traffic accidents. In Kansas, visibility dropped to only 50 feet while in Iowa a major highway was closed, leaving lorry drivers stranded.
Hundreds of schools closed, thousands of homes lost power and flights have been cancelled across a wide area.
The Midwest is accustomed to bitterly cold winters but the strength of the storm, which also brought ice and 50mph winds, still took the region by surprise.
In Madison, Wisconsin, the worst affected area, more than 19 inches of snow fell and the local university was closed for the first time in nearly 45 years. >>> Tom Leonard in New York | Thursday, December 10, 2009
