ice, wind chill alerts. plus, the january 6th committee just released the final report recommending donald trump be barred from ever holding office again. and for the first time in public, vladimir putin says what the world has known all along, he s wagging war on ukraine. it is friday. welcome to our viewers in the you states and around the world. i m christine romans. let s begin with this. a christmas gut punch from mother nature as a once in a generation storm blasts across the country with the worst yet to come. more than half the u.s. population is under some kind of weather alert. from florida west to washington state. more than 200 million people are under wind chill alerts. more than 80 million under winter weather alerts. more than 40 million other bracing for high winds. needles to say it is a mess for holiday travelers. thousands of flights were canceled thursday. nearly 2700 flights already canceled today with hundreds more delayed. and look at power outage
(customer) hi? (burke) happy anniversary. (customer) for what? (burke) every year you re with us, you get fifty dollars toward your home deductible. it s a policy perk for being a farmers customer. (customer) do i have to do anything? (burke) nothing. (customer) nothing? (burke) nothing. (customer) nothing? (burke) nothing. (customer) hmm, that is really something. (burke) you get a whole lot of something with farmers policy perks. see ya. (kid) may i have a balloon, too? (burke) sure. your parents have maintained a farmers home policy for twelve consecutive months, right? we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum texas authorities at the border are asking asylum seekers to find shelter indoors or go
reduced visibility significantly, especially on the roads you might be taking to try to get home for christmas. omar jimenez, cnn, chicago. thank you for that. as those record cold temperatures move south to the u.s./mexico border the city of el paso, texas, has opened up government run shelters at hotels and several unused schools. they will turn away any migrants who don t have the proper paperwork from customs and border patrol. cnn s ed lavandera has more. reporter: migrants on the streets of downtown el paso are facing a very dangerous night. temperatures will dip close to about 20 degrees fahrenheit and many of them will be sleeping on the street. there s been a dye ma am make it we have spoken with, many of
one gentleman who runs one of the shelters in el paso said he is extremely worried that tomorrow morning on the streets of el paso there might be some migrants who don t wake up. ed lavandera, el paso, texas. in washington the hard work of funding the government. the house set to vote on a bill to avert a shutdown after the senate passed it on thursday. is agreed to. lawmakers are racing the clock to pass the $1.7 trillion bill with government funding set to expire at the end of the day today. the big spending bill is more aid for ukraine, funding for prosecutions related to the january 6th attack. what s not in it, an extension of the enhanced credit.
needles to say it is a mess for holiday travelers. thousands of flights were canceled thursday. nearly 2700 flights already canceled today with hundreds more delayed. and look at power outages already. tens of thousands in southern states like texas, georgia, tennessee. let s get to meteorologist britley ritz. what s the latest? hey, christine. the cold air rushing down from canada. the arctic blast dropping temperatures below zero. actual temperatures. then we factor in the wind and that s what counts. what it feels like. your wind chill, if you will, des moines, 36 below. the wind gusts in the ohio valley 45 miles per hour. sustained winds of 32 miles per hour. hence why we have wind chill warnings. from the northern plains down to texas all the way up into the mid-atlantic and other areas dealing with advisories. regardless, it s dangerously cold. it will stay that way for several hours.