Norfolk, Feb 20 (AP) The latest in a long line of storms took direct aim at the US east coast on Wednesday, threatening to dump heavy snow and some ice across several states on winter-weary residents.

A storm that dropped snow in the midwest spread across the Tennessee and Ohio Valleys, bringing more misery to some places just starting to clean up from deadly weekend floods.

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Up to 25 centimetres of snow was possible through Thursday night along the Atlantic coast in Virginia and significant ice accumulations were forecast in eastern North Carolina, the National Weather Service said.

As thick snowflakes pelted Norfolk, Virginia, a line of shoppers snaked deep into a Harris Teeter grocery store, past loaves of bread and almost to the egg cooler. In the parking lot of a Total Wine store, college students in fraternity sweatshirts lugged a keg of beer to their car.

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But on the sidewalks of the city's historic Ghent neighbourhood, there was an eerie quiet. A white-haired shih tzu named Sasha tramped delicately in newly fallen snow Wednesday afternoon.

"This is a little weird for her," said her owner, Lotfi Hamdi, who manages a local grocery store and works as a freelance language interpreter.

Sasha isn't alone in feeling out of sorts. The snow forecast for this city of 2,30,000 people on the Chesapeake Bay isn't likely to break records. But the winter months sometimes pass with barely a dusting. Schools, universities and many businesses closed on Wednesday throughout the Hampton Roads region and could remain shuttered into the weekend. The Norfolk Naval Shipyard reduced its operations.

"I love the snow but it looks like this is a bit too much for us," said Hamdi, already stocked up on milk and bread. "If it's more than five inches, I think that's a bit risky for us. Luckily I'm off for the next couple of days, which is just a beautiful coincidence."

Virginia State Police reported 53 accidents by late on Wednesday morning. Accidents also closed portions of Interstate 95 and I-85 near Raleigh, North Carolina.

Nearly 4,000 flights were cancelled or delayed across the US, including more than 300 in and out of Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina, according to the flight-tracking site FlightAware.com.

Elsewhere, a polar vortex sent temperatures plunging from Montana to southern Texas. The biggest batch of record cold temperatures are expected early on Thursday and Friday, said weather service meteorologist Andrew Orrison.

Virginia remained under a state of emergency that Governor Glenn Youngkin issued for another storm on February 10 that allowed the National Guard and state agencies to assist local governments. North Carolina Governor Josh Stein followed suit with an emergency declaration on Tuesday. Both governors urged motorists to stay off the roads.

Officials warned residents of eastern North Carolina to brace for potential power outages as snow, sleet and freezing rain arrived with Stein warning "our greatest concerns remain power outages and road safety".

Potential ice accumulations of up to 1.3 centimetres in places like Greenville and Goldsboro would cause tree branches to snap, said North Carolina Emergency Management Director Will Ray.

Officials said more than 1,200 crew members were clearing roads or getting set with hundreds of trucks.

Weekend storms that pummelled the eastern US killed at least 18 people, including 14 in Kentucky, where 15 centimetres or more of snow was expected starting Wednesday.

"This is a snowstorm in the middle of a natural disaster," Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said.

In southern West Virginia, weekend floods killed three people in McDowell County, destroying roads and disrupting public water systems. Shelters remained open at churches and schools.

The incoming snowstorm "is going to severely hinder, if not halt, a lot of the efforts that we have," said McDowell County Commissioner Michael Brooks, adding "we are doing our best to at least keep people warm".

About 100 million people in the nation's midsection were gripped by a cold wave, the weather service said. Hundreds of public school districts cancelled classes or switched to online learning for a second day on Wednesday in Oklahoma, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri.

Ashley Pippin, a spokeswoman for Special Olympics Kansas, is getting tired of the cold even as the group organises a series of fund-raising polar plunges, including three this weekend. It is so cold firefighters might have to go out and break the ice.

"We've done it before," Pippin said.

Hettinger, North Dakota, recorded a low temperature of minus 42 degrees Celsius on Wednesday and had warmed to minus 25 degrees by middway.

Denver broke a 19-year-old record when it dipped to minus 21 degrees Celsius. In Kansas City, Missouri, the forecast high Wednesday is minus 13 degrees Celsius, which would break the mark of minus 11.6 degrees set in 1929. In San Antonio, Texas, wind chill readings could dip as low as minus 19 degrees Celsius early on Thursday.

Earlier this month, famous groundhog Punxsatawney Phil predicted six more weeks of winter weather.

"I was thinking I'd like to choke him," said Robin White Stevens of hard-hit Grundy, Virginia, whose challenges this winter have included falling on her hip while walking along icy ditch lines. "We can't catch a break weatherwise. Snow, flood. It's a mess around here." (AP)

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