her on what would have been her 100th birthday this is nbc nightly news with lester holt. good evening we have been talking about this weather system since we last saw you on friday. and tonight it is still with us. winter weather alerts remain in effect across northern new england and the great lakes after the storm barrelled across and up the country as a major snow maker tens of thousands in its path are still without power tonight. the storm leaving double digit snow amounts in at least 11 states 27 inches reported in ashtabula, ohio. 22 in upstate new york des moines, iowa more than 14 inches, it s biggest snowstorm in more than a decade thousands of flights canceled over the weekend as snow, high winds and flooding took a toll from the carolinas into the northeast and now more brutal cold is on the way. emilie ikeda has the latest. reporter: chaos on
clean up efforts are now underway in california after a massive storm barrelled through the state. the system was packing torrential rain and win gusts up to 70 miles per hour. at least four people have died and thousands are currently without power. hundreds of flights out of los angeles were also delayed or canceled because of the weather. and many freeways and highways had to be shut down. flood waters caused sink holes that swallowed up cars. there is concern that areas previously hit by wildfires could now be prone to mudslides. make its grand entrance on the world stage. vice president mike pence in germany today along with defense secretary james mattis vowing to
killed after the storm barrelled through the caribbean before closing in on the u.s. coast. msnbc meteorologist bill karins has the latest. this was downgraded to a category 1. what do we anticipate in the coming hours? more significant damage. i just heard from one insurance adjuster that says this is a $6 billion weather disaster. when you talk about the past hurricanes we ve had in our country and talk about the inflation rates, this hurricane will now be a top 20. if it had made that turn and hit the west palm beach area, could have been a top ten. but we were spared that damage. we still have the significant damage along the coastal areas and more damage to be done. not so much with the winds. the wind gusts are down a little bit. we still have trees falling, i m sure, with 60-mile-an-hour gusts in myrtle beach, wilmington at 33. this could knock down big old trees in that area and that will land on homes, cars and knock out power. here s some of the higher gusts at land fall
it hasn t made landfall yet. it still could. right now it s hugging the coast, just far enough offshore that the worst of the winds are staying offshore. that was earlier this evening with the weather channel s mike seidel. this storm barrelled through haiti earlier and today we got the first look at widespread damage. the a.p. reports the death toll in eighth as a result of this hurricane is up to 280 people and counting. the numbers will rise as rescue workers do their work. one of the most devastated parts of haiti was toured today. we re joined by phone from port-au-prince haiti. tell us what you saw. we ve seen a lot of
reporter: snow, ice and possible treacherous conditions for some 6 million people across eight states. this time lapse shows how quickly the storm barrelled in. complete gridlock as frustrated motorists tried to get going. minnesota highway patrol responding to at least one fatality and more than 390 car accidents, including this overturned truck carrying turkeys. in normal driving conditions, you are supposed to keep about three seconds of distance between you and the car in front of you. aaa says under conditions like this, snow and ice, stay about eight seconds behind to give you time to react. salt trucks and snow plows across the storm s path gearing up. and it s here just north of minneapolis they got slammed the hardest. more than a foot of snow in some areas. the big mounds of snow piling up. it s not over just yet. they are now bracing for the plunging temperatures headed here this week. alex perez, abc news, wyoming, minnesota. they are going to put a big area into a janu