Winter storm's icy blast hits 200 million in US

Some 200 million Americans are feeling the icy grip of a massive winter storm that has been linked to at least 12 deaths ahead of the holiday weekend.

More than 1.5 million people lost power and thousands of flights were cancelled on Friday, reports BBC.

In South Dakota, some snowed-in Native Americans reportedly burned clothes for warmth after running out of fuel.

In Canada, Ontario and Quebec were bearing the brunt of the storm, with power cuts for hundreds of thousands.

Much of the rest of the country, from British Columbia to Newfoundland, is under extreme cold and winter storm warnings.

A bomb cyclone, when atmospheric pressure plummets, brought blizzard-like conditions to the Great Lakes on the US-Canada border.

The vast storm spans 2,000 miles (3,200km) from Texas to Maine, and the National Weather Service (NWS) said its Friday map "depicts one of the greatest extents of winter weather warnings and advisories ever".

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Temperatures in Elk Park, Montana, dropped to -50F (-45C), while the town of Hell, Michigan, has frozen over.

The community is covered in several inches of snow and it was 1F (-17C) there on Friday night.

Emily, a bartender at Smitty's Hell Saloon, told the BBC: "It's pretty cold here, but we're having a hell of a time."

Heavy snowfall was forecast in areas of Pennsylvania and Michigan. Buffalo, New York, was expecting at least 35in (89cm).

Coastal flooding has been seen in New England, New York and New Jersey.