Los Angeles wildfire victims receive aid
A huge outdoor donation center distributed food, clothing and hygiene items to people affected by the Los Angeles wildfires.
Donations began pouring into a site in front of the city's Rose Bowl arena earlier in the week, but operations were moved to the parking lot of a nearby building.
Wildfire victims were able to pick up everything from toothbrushes to hot chicken tortillas, as volunteers sorted through piles of donated clothes.
An emergency responder camp remained at the Rose Bowl, where firefighters were able to rest in tents before returning to the fires.
A pause in the fierce winds that super-charged the ring of wildfires that devastated Los Angeles this week helped crews make progress in bringing the infernos under control, but strong gusts could return over the weekend, forecasters said.
The fires, which tore through neighborhoods on the east and west sides of the city, have so far killed 10 people and destroyed nearly 10,000 structures, with those figures expected to grow.
Meanwhile a massive winter storm has swept across the southern United States, bringing heavy snow, ice, and freezing conditions from Texas to Georgia, prompting multiple governors to declare states of emergency. The storm, linked to a southward-moving polar vortex, has caused widespread disruption across the region.
The National Weather Service forecasts up to 9 inches of snow across northern Arkansas and Tennessee, while Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama face dangerous travel conditions due to sleet and freezing rain. Central Oklahoma and northern Texas have already received up to 7 inches of snow.
Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, the world's busiest, implemented a ground stop as heavy precipitation hit the area, resulting in hundreds of cancelled and delayed flights. Similar disruptions affected airports in Charlotte, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Nashville.
The severe weather event coincides with unusual January wildfires in the Los Angeles area, highlighting extreme weather patterns that some experts link to climate change.
