Fatalities follow US storms

Severe winter storms in the US have claimed a number of victims, it has emerged.

Around 35 people are thought to have been killed as a result of ice storms in a number of US states.

Trees have come down, power supplies have been cut and roads have been blocked in many regions, with the states of Missouri and Oklahoma worst affected, it has emerged, with a federal emergency declared by President George W Bush in the latter.

Other fatalities have occurred in Iowa, Maine, New York and Texas.

"In the wake of this storm, much of the country will be under the influence of a dry and bitterly cold air mass,'' forecasters told Bloomberg, stressing that "a prolonged period of ice" over central and southern Texas should be expected.

The storm system, which has worst affected the central states, is now predicted to move north-east, with huge snow storms expected in New England later in the week.