A massive storm packing heavy snowfalls, treacherous ice and severe weather unleashed its fury across more than a dozen states over the weekend, and may cause "highway chaos" in the central parts of the US on Monday, meteorologists warned.

The National Weather Service predicted about 20 to 30 centimeters of snow for the Annapolis, Maryland, area.

In a statement on X, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin declared a state of emergency ahead of the storm and encouraged residents to vote before the state’s special elections on Tuesday.

Similar declarations were issued in Kansas, Maryland, West Virginia and in central Illinois cities.

Parts of upstate New York saw one meter or more of snow from a lake effect event until late Sunday afternoon.

In Kentucky, Louisville recorded 19.5 centimeters of snow on Sunday, a new record for the date that shattered the previous mark of 7.6 centimeters set in 1910.

Lexington, Kentucky, also set a snowfall record, with 12.7 centimeters.

The storm was forecast to move into the Ohio Valley and reach the Mid-Atlantic states later Sunday and Monday, with a hard freeze expected as far south as Florida.

Virginia State Police reported at least 135 car crashes as the storm entered the state Sunday. A handful of injuries were reported.

In Charleston, West Virginia, where several inches of snow had fallen by Sunday night, authorities urged motorists to stay home.

The Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office said deputies were responding to crashes and 911 calls countywide. “Please be patient if you have called 911 for assistance. A deputy will call you or respond to you as soon as possible,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

In Indiana, snow fully covered portions numerous roads and highways prompting Indiana State Police to plead with motorists to stay off the roads.

“It’s snowing so hard, the snow plows go through and then within a half hour the roadways are completely covered again,” Sgt. Todd Ringle said.

Roughly 25 centimeters of snow had fallen in parts of Kansas, with snow and sleet totals predicted to top 36 centimeter for parts of that state and northern Missouri.

Meanwhile damaging winds brought down trees across the Deep South. The weather service issued tornado warnings Sunday in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

The storms caused havoc for the nation’s passenger railways. More than 20 cancellations were planned on Sunday, 40 for Monday and at least two for Tuesday.

“If local authorities are telling people not to travel, it’s counterintuitive to try to run a full slate of services when people are being told to stay home,” Amtrak spokesperson Marc Magliari said.

The Midwest was hit especially hard. A train between Chicago and New York and several regional trains between Chicago and St. Louis were among those canceled Sunday.

Nearly 200 flights in and out of St. Louis Lambert International Airport were canceled, according to tracking platform FlightAware.

Starting Monday, the eastern two-thirds of the country will experience dangerous, bone-chilling cold and wind chills, forecasters said.

Residents of Takhtapul district of Afghanistan’s Kandahar province say they are struggling to survive amid an ongoing drought that has devastated their crops.

This rural community mainly relies on agriculture to survive but climate change has virtually ended any hopes of farming.

Afghanistan has experienced three consecutive years of drought, including the most devastating drought in 30 years in 2021 and 2022.

Climate experts predict that by 2050, 90% of its territory will be affected by drought.

Afghanistan is one of the ten countries most vulnerable to climate change. It's also ranked fourth in overall disaster risk.

Takhtapul residents have spoken out about their plight and said they have sustained extensive losses due to the drought

They said in the past they had made a living off farming, but now due to the severe lack of water, their land has become barren.

They also said this is forcing their youth and younger generation to find work in other provinces or outside the country.

Abdullah, a resident of Takhtapul district of Kandahar, said: "Our youths have gone to Pakistan and other provinces in search of work due to unemployment and drought. There they have wheelbarrows [for day labourer work] or they do other jobs."

On the other hand, local officials say that they are trying to reduce unemployment by launching development projects in this district.

Along with droughts and lack of work for young people, the breakdown of roads, lack of health centers and lack of suitable places for education are among the problems that the residents of this district want to solve.

Six months worth of Malaysia’s average annual rainfall fell within five days across the east coast of the country last week, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said early Tuesday. 

One of the worst hit areas was Kelantan which recorded 1,442mm of rain between November 26 and 30.

Ibrahim said the high rainfall led to flooding that forced a large number of people in Kelantan and Terengganu to be evacuated.

The recorded rainfall at Irrigation and Drainage Department stations in Tanah Merah and Tumpat, exceeded 1,167mm in just five days.

“According to the Malaysian Meteorological Department (MetMalaysia), the reading (in Kelantan) was at 1,442mm, an extraordinarily high level of rainfall. In Terengganu, MetMalaysia’s Besut station recorded 1,761mm of rain during the same period.

“Overall, the (average) rainfall was 1,349mm, far beyond our expectations,” Anwar told the Dewan Rakyat (Parliament) on Tuesday. 

He also said the government is preparing for the forecast monsoon surge as announced by MetMalaysia, expected to start after Dec 8.

By Tuesday, some residents in the town of Tumpat were returning to submerged homes and shops as deadly floodwaters eased in some areas.

People who returned to their homes found many had collapsed, with parts of walls, roofs and broken furniture lying scattered in pools of water.

Muhamad Alim, a 56-year-old shopkeeper whose food store was inundated, recalled fast-rising waters in his home and his grandchildren crying as the flood surged on Saturday night.

"Electricity was cut off, and there was no water supply. So, we were stuck, sitting there as if we were in the middle of the sea, surrounded by water," he told Reuters.

"You could hear the sound of water rushing cutting through the silence of the night."

Six people have died in Malaysia and more than 150,000 were evacuated during the height of the floods last week, government data showed.

In Thailand, the death toll is 25, and more than 300,000 households were still affected, the interior ministry said.

The number of people in temporary shelters in Malaysia fell to just under 95,000 on Tuesday morning, though the authorities remain on guard for a second wave of floods this week.

Malaysia's Meteorological Department expects a wind convergence to begin on Tuesday, potentially bringing heavy showers, with a monsoon surge to follow on Dec. 8.

In Thailand, the Meteorological Department warned people in the south of the country to beware of heavy to very heavy rains and possible flash flooding and overflows from Dec. 3-5.