Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and an afternoon briefing said 1.3 million people in his city alone were without power.

He appealed to state and local providers to act quickly.

We need to get this power restored A s, A P uh and at the very minimum got to give us some information so that we can tell people when they can expect the power to be restored.

At least four deaths were tied to the bitter cold engulfing vast areas of the country over the holiday weekend.

Two of those deaths were due to carbon monoxide poisoning as several people were treated in hospitals for trying to heat icy homes with outdoor grills or propane heaters.

And officials say at least three people died when a tornado fueled by a low pressure system swept through North Carolina's Brunswick County.

Overnight.

In Oklahoma City, volunteers tried to make sure homeless residents could endure the cold snap, basically getting everyone a hot meal, sleeping bags, gloves, what we could do to help them out to survive the storm.

In a Chicago neighborhood, snow almost completely took over an outdoor patio set in Texas.

Some residents found ways to enjoy the chill riding snowboards or laundry baskets down frozen hills.

You live in Houston, you don't really have regular sleds.

Power went out in the heights, so I'm a freezing my butt off.

Those will be out in the in.

The snow on approaching storm is expected to bring more snow, ice and sleet from the Texas Panhandle through Kentucky and up through Washington, D.

C.

To New York City, New Jersey and Boston.