Hell freezes over during US Christmas bomb cyclone which has killed at least 21

At least 21 deaths have been attributed to the bomb cyclone (Pictures: Getty/AP)

More than 800,000 people are still without power due to the huge winter storm sweeping the US.

At least 21 deaths have been attributed to the ‘bomb cyclone’, including four people killed in a 50-car pile-up and two others who died in their homes when an ambulance was unable to reach them.

Just over half the population – some 200 million people – were under some sort of weather warning or advisory, with temperatures plummeting to a bone-chilling -45C in the worst-hit areas.

Even Hell – the town in Michigan – froze over.

Hoak’s restaurant is covered in ice from the spray of Lake Erie (Picture: Reuters)

A frozen fountain at Jacob Schoen & Son Funeral Home in New Orleans (Picture: AP)

Even Hell froze over (Picture: gotohellmichigan via Facebook)

Holidaymakers were standed at airports after thousands of flights were cancelled (Picture: Corbis via Getty)

Several cities had been on course to register their coldest Christmas Eve since records began.

Christmas holidaymakers were left stranded at airports after thousands of flights were cancelled amid blinding blizzards, with the disruption expected to last for days yet.

Ashton Robinson Cook, a meteorologist at the NWS Weather Prediction Center, said: ‘The cold snap will persist through Christmas.’

Roads also became clogged with heavy snowfall and marooned motorists.

Four people died in a massive pile-up involving 50 vehicles on the Ohio Turnpike.

Travis Sanchez trudges over a snowdrift with a pair of shovels for a stranded motorist on Chenango Street in Buffalo (Picture: AP)

Rescuers at the scene of a multi-vehicle crash in which four people died on the Ohio Turnpike in Erie County, Ohio (Picture: EPA)

Many others were injured in the pile-up (Picture: EPA)

Much of the US is under a winter storm that has brought sub-freezing temperature, power outages, and icy conditions (Picture: EPA)

In Kansas City, Missouri, another was killed after skidding into a creek.

Two people died at home in the Buffalo suburb of Cheektowaga when emergency crews were unable to reach them in time to treat their medical emergencies.

Where ambulances were able to get through the snow, it was taking them more than three hours to do a single trip to hospital.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul warned: ‘No matter how many emergency vehicles we have, they cannot get through the conditions as we speak.’

A 22-year-old utility worker died while attempting to restore power in Ohio and a woman in Vermont died in hospital after being hit by part of a tree felled by the powerful winds.

Police in Colorado Springs said they found the dead body of a person who appeared to be homeless as subzero temperatures and snow descended on the region.

Paul Lamb clears his driveway in Hamburg, New York (Picture: Getty)

Ice covers the Lake Erie shoreline (Picture: Getty)

Christmas decorations covered in snow (Picture: Getty)

A plow removes ice and snow along the Lake Erie shoreline (Picture: Getty)

A winter storm rolls through Western New York (Picture: AP)

A battering winter storm has knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of homes (Picture: AP)

In Madison, Wisconsin, a 57-year-old woman died after falling through the ice on a frozen river, the Rock County Sheriff’s Office announced.

And in Lansing, Michigan, an 82-year-old woman died after being found curled up in the snow outside of her assisted living community, Bath Township police reported.

The storm was nearly unprecedented in its scope, stretching from the Great Lakes near Canada to the Rio Grande along the border with Mexico.

Minneapolis was the coldest spot in America on Saturday at -21C. On Christmas morning, the coldest spot will be Fargo, North Dakota at -28C, Mr Cook said.

He said it will start to moderate west-to-east across America, with the high plains and Central US getting back to normal by Tuesday, but it won’t warm up on the East Coast until Thursday or Friday.

‘For now it’s staying cold,’ he added.

The Buffalo suburb and surrounding area was hit hard by the winter storm Elliott (Picture: Getty)

A truck remains stuck in snow along the Lake Erie shoreline (Picture: Getty)

Camille Lockwood, of Buffalo, New York, navigates deep snow (Picture: EPA)

The severe weather prompted authorities across the country to open warming centers in libraries and police stations while scrambling to expand temporary shelter for the homeless.

The challenge was compounded by an influx of migrants crossing the US southern border by the thousands in recent weeks.

The National Weather Service said its map of existing or impending meteorological hazards ‘depicts one of the greatest extents of winter weather warnings and advisories ever’.

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