As millions of Americans hunker down for the winter storm, 19 states and Washington, D.C., have declared states of emergency.

Winter Storm Fern's reported death toll reaches 85 nationwide as Mississippi continues recovery efforts with hundreds of thousands still without power.

More than 100 people have died from storms in the last week, officials say.

Winter's brutal grip on the U.S. East will continue in the coming days, with subfreezing temperatures reaching into Florida and a potential blizzard threatening the Atlantic coast.

In Oxford, where the winter storm devastated the city and left many without power, recovery is being led by the people who live there.

Thousands of families in the Nashville area have faced more than a week without power in frigid weather after the biggest winter storm of the season brought Arctic air and dangerous ice to the South.

Some American Airlines flight attendants were left "stranded in airport terminals and hotel lobbies," the APFA union said.

The deaths occurred amid a second major winter storm that brought heavy snow and high winds from the Carolinas to Virginia.

By Jon Nazca RONDA, Spain, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Spanish and Portuguese authorities braced on Wednesday for the impact of Storm Leo, suspending classes in some areas and warning against travel, just one week after deadly Storm Kristin wreaked havoc across the Iberian Peninsula.