Hundreds of people hunkered down in emergency shelters, and thousands stuck it out in darkened homes after a winter storm that left 54 dead in nine US states.About 320,000 homes and businesses in several states were still without electricity late on Tuesday after a storm that brought ice, snow, flooding and high winds to a swath of the country from Texas to Maine.Subfreezing temperatures were expected to continue in the state on Wednesday, with little sunshine to aid in melting the ice until Thursday or Friday, said National Weather Service meteorologist Kevin Brown.The storm had largely blown out of New England by Tuesday, but forecasters expected more freezing rain to hit parts of Texas on Wednesday, said Dennis Cook of the National Weather Service. Gales were forecast to make the Northeast bone-chilling through Wednesday night before warming on Thursday.Across the state of Missouri, 85 shelters were expected to accommodate more than 3,600 people Tuesday night, according to the State Emergency Management Agency. About 163,000 homes and businesses still had no electricity.In Buffalo nearly all stores, gas stations and restaurants were closed on Tuesday. “There are no services,” Mayor Jerry Hardesty said. “I’ve talked to residents who have lived here 50 years and nobody can remember it ever being this bad.” The town lost all its power by Saturday. Water towers ran dry on Sunday, and water service was restored only late on Monday, after the National Guard hooked a generator up to a pumping station.Numerous schools and universities, as well as some local and state government offices, were also closed across the region.More than 200,000 customers in Michigan also lost power at some point, and 24,000 were still blacked out early on Wednesday. The states of New York and New Hampshire also reported thousands of customers without power.-JUSTIN JUOZAPAVICIUS
