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About 20 million people were caught in the grip of snow in the severe winter storm in the United States before the Christmas holiday. In the meantime, at least 12 people have lost their lives.

The storm left more than 1.5 million people without power on Friday and hundreds of thousands of flights were cancelled. News from New York Times and CNN.

Some Native American residents trapped by heavy snowfall in South Dakota are also reported to have tried to keep warm by burning their clothes after running out of fuel.

The fury of the storm is felt more in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. These 200,000 people are without electricity in their homes. For most of the rest of the country, from British Columbia to Newfoundland, extreme cold flows and winter storm warnings have been issued.