A state of emergency has been declared in parts of Canada after an ice storm left more than a million homes without power.

Five people have died and more than 100 people are being treated in hospitals in southern Quebec and eastern Ontario, mostly from the effects of carbon monoxide poisoning from home generators.

Blizzards have also drifted across the American border, badly affecting New England.

Many roads, even major highways, are impassable

About 2,400 people unable to spend a third night in homes without light or heat were using public shelters in Montreal.

Hundreds of thousands of trees have been damaged by the storm and many electricity pylons toppled over or snapped under the weight of snow and ice.

Old people are vulnerable

Older people in rest homes have been particularly vulnerable.

Marjorie Northrup, who runs a senior citizens' home in Montreal, said: "The streets here look like bombs hit them."

Trains are not running in the affected area and hospitals have cancelled all but essential surgery.

More than 2,000 troops are working to clear roads and help restore power.

Faulty generators

Electricity companies in Quebec, the worst hit province, say it could be up to four days before power is restored.

Fire officials blamed several fires on the power cuts and and two deaths by carbon monoxide poisoning on faulty electrical generators and heaters.

Another 30 millimetres of freezing rain, coupled with high winds forecast for Friday, could result in further problems.

Weather experts predict it will be Monday before the big freeze begins to thaw.

The same weather system has been blamed for flooding in the United States which killed nine people - five of them in one small area of Tennessee.

In the south, the rain tapered off late on Thursday but dozens of schools were closed, roads were blocked by mudslides, and rivers burst their banks from Mississippi to Virginia.

Once again meteorologists are giving some of the blame to the El Niño weather system.
 

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