TEHRAN (Tasnim) The death toll from powerful winter storms in the central and eastern United States has risen to at least 14, officials said on Feb 17, after floods, gale-force winds and bitterly cold temperatures swept the region.

The National Weather Service (NWS) warned on Feb 17 of a winter storm system carrying arctic air that would cause record cold, with wind chill expected to hit as low as minus 51 deg C in Montana and North Dakota, AFP reported.

Ive got more tough news. The death toll in Kentucky has now risen to 12, said Kentucky governor Andy Beshear in a social media post on Feb 17, raising the toll from eight a day earlier.

West Virginia governor Patrick Morrisey said on Feb 17 his state had seen at least one death from the weather.

We have one confirmed fatality at this time, he told a press briefing, warning that further flooding was expected. There are still several people who are missing.

One person died in the southern city of Atlanta, Georgia. He was killed when an extremely large tree fell on his house early on Feb 16, fire official Scott Powell told local media.

Most of the dead in Kentucky, Beshear said in an earlier news conference, drowned when they were trapped in their vehicles by fast-rising floodwaters. The victims included a mother and her child.

The governor urged people to stay off roads across the state, where local and federal authorities have declared a state of emergency.

Beshear said more than 1,000 people were rescued by first responders within 24 hours.

In its Feb 17 advisory, the NWS warned that the cold weather system would impact a vast area, sending temperatures tumbling in the central plains, the eastern seaboard and as far south as the Gulf coast.

A bitter cold arctic air mass is expected to continue impacting the north-central US while also spreading further south and east over the next few days, the advisory noted.

Power to thousands of homes had been restored by Feb 17, but more than 50,000 customers remained without electricity in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland, according to monitoring website poweroutage.us.