<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">At least three people have died as a powerful winter storm moves east across the US, spawning tornadoes in southern states and coating others in snow.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">A young boy and his mother were killed in Louisiana when their home was destroyed by a tornado.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The huge storm also brought blizzard-like conditions to the Midwest, with roads and schools closed and some areas reporting 4ft (1.2m) of snow.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Around 3,300 flights have been delayed and over 150 more cancelled.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Some 500,000 people across four states - Nebraska, Wyoming, South Dakota and Minnesota - are under blizzard warnings, with powerful winds and heavy snowfall making travel difficult. Millions more around the country are under less severe winter weather alerts.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Severe storms are forecast along the Gulf coast, including in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and parts of Florida. There are also tornado warnings in parts of Louisiana and Mississippi.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Rescuers searched for hours before recovering the mother and son who died in a rural area near the city of Shreveport.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The remains of the boy - Nikolus Little, eight - were found in a wooded area half a mile from the family home.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The body of his mother - Yoshiko A Smith, 30 - was discovered about one street away from the destroyed home, under a pile of debris, officials said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Sheriff Steve Prator told the local television station KSLA that the father had reported them missing.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We couldn't even find the house that he was describing with the address," said the sheriff. "Everything was gone,"</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A 56-year old woman was also found dead outside her home in St Charles Parish, according to a local politician. The Louisiana Department of Health said she died after a tornado destroyed her house.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the small town of Farmerville about 100 miles (160km) away, at least 25 people were hurt after a tornado hit, according to local news outlet KNOE.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At least 18 tornadoes touched down in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Mississippi on Tuesday, injuring residents and wrecking homes and buildings.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">More were reported on Wednesday, while Louisiana's governor declared a state of emergency.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Most of the US is likely to feel some impact from the storm, with cold weather and snow forecast as it moves east over the coming days.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It's a fairly vigorous storm system," Rich Otto, a meteorologist with the Weather Prediction Center, told the BBC. "This one is a little larger than your average winter storm."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The severe weather has caused hundreds of flight disruptions at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport in Texas and Denver International Airport in Colorado over the past two days, according to FlightAware.com.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The storm has also spilled into Canada, bringing heavy snow and high winds in the country's southern Prairie region, including the provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Freezing rain and other wintry conditions are forecast to hit the upper Midwest and north-eastern US on Thursday, the National Weather Service said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The storm system began to hit the US last Friday, bringing powerful winds and snow to parts of California. BBC</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>