A massive winter storm has engulfed most of the continental United States, causing power outages, floods, and freezing temperatures across the country.

More than 240million Americans were placed under a winter weather advisory on Friday as the ‘once in a generation’ storm moved across the country.

Forecasters predicted that the storm, which has already brought days of wintery weather to the Great Plains and Midwest, would gain strength and transform into a ‘bomb cyclone’ as it moved over the Great Lakes on Thursday.

Blizzard and winter storm warnings were issued across Minnesota, Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois.

Even places as far south as Florida are feeling the effects of the cyclone. Hard freeze warnings and wind chill advisories were issued across the Sunshine State, including in Miami-Dade County.

‘YES, you heard us right (and you’re not dreaming)! There is a wind chill advisory out for portions of South Florida,’ the National Weather Service announced on Twitter. Central Florida could see temperatures as low as 25 degrees Fahrenheit. Miami is expected to fare a bit better with lows of 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

On other parts of the East Coast, rainstorms flooded coastal areas and threatened motorists with flash freezes as temperatures dropped rapidly.

Portions of the Rockaways in New York City suffered severe flooding in the streets. One resident was even seen kayaking through the streets in the coastal Queens neighborhood.

Power outages have affected nearly 1.4million Americans across the country, from New England to Texas.

Strong winds have caused many outages in some of the worst hit states. Maine saw 168,000 customers lose power, while 133,000 were affected in North Carolina, according to PowerOutage.us.

Wind gusts in Maine averaged about 70 miles per hour, while gusts atop neighboring New Hampshire’s Mount Washington reached over 150 miles per hour.

Western New York and Pennsylvania also saw significant outages as the storm made its way east on Friday. New York Governor Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency and deployed about 7,700 state utility workers as conditions deteriorated.

‘Please, stay off the roads this evening as conditions will worsen,’ Hochul said. ‘Bundle up, stay indoors, and stay safe this weekend.’

In the south, utility companies in the cities of Nashville and Memphis announced they would be implementing rolling blackouts to conserve energy.

Holiday travel has also been severely affected by the storm. About 10% of all flights within the US were cancelled on Thursday, according to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

About 4,700 flights have been cancelled in the US on Friday, according to online flight tracker FlightAware. Another 6,900 have been delayed.

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