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Drought and snow: Extreme US weather

Summary

17 February 2014

It has been a week of extreme weather in the United States. The East Coast was hit by a huge snowstorm which affected 100 million Americans in more than 20 states. Meanwhile, on the West Coast, California continues to experience its worst drought in living memory.

Reporter:

Beth McLeod

Report

After burying the American East Coast in snow all the way from Georgia up to Maine, the storm has moved north to Canada. It has left an icy trail of destruction in its wake; hundreds of thousands of homes are still without power, mostly in southern states like the Carolinas, which are used to milder winter weather. 

The extreme conditions are being blamed for at least 25 deaths, mostly in traffic accidents on roads that are slick with ice. Thirty people were injured in a multi-car pileup in Pennsylvania and more than 14,000 flights have been cancelled this week so far. 

President Obama has left the snow in Washington for the West Coast, where he has been talking about a very different type of extreme weather; California is in the midst of its worst drought in a hundred years. He promised federal money to help deal with what he called a "very challenging situation".